OverGamer
by SaintInfernalNeos
Summary: Four years ago, 10-years-old Kirigaya Kazuto ran away from home after finding out he was adopted, never to be seen again. Now, the world finds itself threatened by the Evil Minion Hordes of the Overlord 'Kirito'...who doesn't seem as Dark or Evil as he claims to be. But well, you all know what they say: "Evil ALWAYS finds a way..."
1. Prologue: Evil Finds a Way

Hello there, everyone. First of all…I totally blame a friend of mine that will not be named for this. I started playing Overlord 2 out of curiosity a few days ago, the idea popped on my head, I mentioned it to him, we talked a bit and…this happened.

On a positive note, this shouldn't go beyond this, at all, and it only took me a day to made it so…have fun?

 **Disclaimer:** Neither SAO nor Overlord belong to me. I'm just mixing the characters and plots for fun because I'm weird like that.

* * *

 **Prologue: Evil Finds a Way…whether you Want it or Not**

In hindsight, 10-years-old Kirigaya Kazuto had no one to blame for his current situation but himself.

While some may have called the kid reckless or stupid, the fact was that, at the end of the day, he was a child that had found it his family wasn't actually his 'family', his sister and parents not really being those, but instead his cousin and uncles. He had discovered his parents had died before he could even remember them and had been adopted, and that neither his aunt nor uncle, who he had called mom and dad for his whole life, had ever told him so.

Of course, many would say that the black-haired boy was wrong and that he was exaggerating things way too much, and that his adoptive parents/uncles were waiting for him to be older before telling him, but to the confused and saddened Kazuto, sound logic didn't exactly apply.

And that was why he had grabbed his meager savings, stuffed them on his jacket and ran out of the house, making sure to be as silent as possible so that Suguha (Who was practicing kendo on the dojo) didn't hear him.

Running away from home had probably been a little extreme, but it hadn't been by far his worse decision of the day. Nor had it been getting on the train in Kawagoe Station then hiding inside all the way to Tokigawa as he stared aimlessly out of the window before getting off in Myokaku Station (Though a part of him was more than surprised no one had caught him while inside the train). Randomly deciding to take a bus with what remained of his savings towards the nearby area of Mt. Raiden, famous for its Buddhist Temple, hadn't been it either. Deciding to get off the road and head up towards the mountain, though? Now THAT had been when his stupidity reached its peak and the emotionally-stunned boy came to his senses and out of his inner reflections about his 'family', as he realized he was lost in a mountain/forest way too far away from home, with almost no money, no way to call for help and no idea of how to get back to the road.

Surprisingly, he had spent very little time scared and crying for help. Perhaps because of how much of an unusual kid he was (Your average boy couldn't build a high-end computer piece by piece and then use it to hack into erased Juki Net records to accidentally discover he was adopted at age 10, after all), perhaps because he was too emotionally drained after his discovery earlier that day or perhaps because the area around him was actually very peaceful and nice-looking; whatever the case, the kid had simply decided to not stay still and walked on, hoping he would find the road soon enough and ask for help to get back home, unknowingly getting deeper and deeper into the mountain.

A couple of hours later, the exhausted Kazuto could be seen resting against a tree, sitting on the ground while lamenting having dropped kendo for the first time since he did so. If he had kept his body in shape, he probably wouldn't be feeling as if his feet were about to break off from his legs.

"Gotta…keep…moving…" muttered the little boy to himself as he stood up and pressed on once again, trying to ignore his hunger and tiredness as the sun started to set beyond the mountain's horizon. "The road…can't be…much farther…"

Repeating those hopeless words to try and not think he would be soon lost and hungry on a mountain at night, Kazuto kept walking…until he reached a strange-looking clearing among the trees.

Strange in the sense that it was almost perfectly circular, with tall and ancient-looking stones carved with countless Buddhist symbols surrounding its edges, and a temple covered by ofuda (Paper talismans), which the kid was barely able to identify as having the kanji for 'Forbidden', 'Evil' and 'Seal' all over.

Even more disturbing, though was probably the strange 'drawings' of small devilish creatures charging against all kind of magical spirits and ancient armies, all led by a sinister-looking armored figure shrouded in darkness, which were cared on the inner faces of the surrounding rocks…and that Kazuto sadly didn't pay attention to as he walked towards the temple with a curious and hopeful look in his eyes.

"Hey, this has to mean that the main Buddhist temple they said was in this area is close by, right? If I get there, surely someone will be able to help me get back ho…Uh?"

The reason why the little boy's monologue was interrupted was because his eyes had stopped upon a particular ofuda, this one of a golden color unlike the rest, and with silver ink instead of black one, put exactly in the middle of the small stone temple's top.

Kazuto could almost feel… _something_ resonating within him at the sight of the kanji written on it, as if the word carried a weight bigger than any written symbol should have ever done.

"How do you read this…?" whispered the black-haired boy as he reached out to touch the ofuda. "Hmm…Over…lord?"

As soon as the full word finished exiting his mouth…the kid's hand casually tore off the sealing talisman, blinking as he stared at the half of it now in his hands.

In that moment, eldritch green light and arcane bluish one exploded all around the clearing as if they were raw lighting, Kazuto screaming as all of it cracked the rocks surrounding it and then swirled ominously around him, incinerating the rest of the ofuda covering the temple, then breaking it apart.

It was at that moment that the black-haired boy realized _the earth itself_ was cracking under his feet.

Barely having any time to turn around and start screaming, Kirigaya Kazuto could only reach out with his hands helplessly as the ground broke apart under his feet and he fell into what seemed like never-ending darkness, the rocks' remains and everything 'unnatural' that had filled the clearing falling with him.

Seconds later, the massive hole that had replaced the clearing shone with eldritch power and then closed itself, dirt and tree-roots quickly hiding there had ever been anything out of the ordinary there.

In that same moment, back in Kawagoe, on the Kirigaya household, 9-years-old Kirigaya Suguha knocked on her brother's door a couple of times, an innocent smile on her face.

"Onii-chan, time for dinner! Mom made our favorite, and she says that you should get off your computer already if you want to eat some! Also, you didn't play with me at all today because of that!" cutely pouted the little girl, though the childish happiness in her voice couldn't be hidden as she kept staring at the door…until the utter silence she received made her hesitate. "…Onii-chan? Are you there?"

When no answer came, Suguha worriedly put a hand over the handle and opened the door, blinking at being greeted by the silent and empty room of her brother, his window open and his recently built computer having been left on.

Confused and wondering where he could be, the little girl's eyes were drawn towards the computer, not because of the machine itself (She had never been too interested in them unlike her brother), but because of the complex-looking document being shown on the central of the screens, which apparently her brother had been looking at, some parts of it specifically highlighted by the machine being where her eyes were immediately drawn.

"Adop…tion…certificate…Kirigaya…Kazuto? Onii-chan…eh?"

And as the life of a little girl was turned upside down as much as it had been for her sibling hours ago, not to mention that his absence was finally noticed…the aforementioned boy grunted in pain as he tried to open his eyes.

He…wasn't sure exactly where he was, he was hurting all over and could barely see, not to mention that his head was pounding painfully and his vision swam without control. Still, if the size of the…cavern (?) he was in was anything to go by, he was more shocked by the fact that he hadn't died or at least been left crippled with the fall, especially given the strange ground filled with sinister symbols in a circular pattern under him was made of solid rock and…uh?

Weakly, the black-haired boy managed to get on all fours, looking up to see the strange and vaguely circular 'area' (Because it couldn't really be called a room), strange and half-broken spires and constructions, not to mention a couple of ancient and abandoned oversized musical instruments (?) and destroyed pieces of cloth that may have been flags or carpets once upon a time.

But what truly drew the kid's attention was what stood not far from him, towering over the room and seemingly intact (If dirty) despite the pass of time and the lack of care.

A throne of obsidian rock, majestically sinister, which despite the lack of light seemed to shine with an otherworldly presence and that somehow seemed to… _draw_ the boy towards itself.

Still feeling pain all over, Kazuto almost didn't hear the _skittering_ sound of several feet against the rocky ground, but the wrong and unnatural feeling of being watched suddenly assaulting him from all sides was something he could have never missed. Suddenly, his eyes (Even as his vision remained wavering and unfocused) realized that he was surrounded, dozens of strange and short inhuman figures filling the room, yellowish eyes gazing at him from the darkness.

If he hadn't been feeling as if he had just fallen to his death (Which he should have), the kid would have probably screamed in fright. As it was, he barely managed a whimper before one of the 'creatures', markedly different from the rest, walked forward, letting him see its greyish skin, hunched form and its sinister/broken garments, a pale and clawed hand of four fingers stroking its dirty-looking beard.

"Awake, awake after long nap!" came several voices from the darkness, which honestly sounded a bit…stupid. "Very long nap! Who's the humie who wakes us up? Is he new master?!"

"Hmm…this one…oh my, what a surprise. I had never felt such bottomless potential from a human so young before…" spoke the leader-like creature while looming over the whimpering Kazuto. "A lot of rough edges to polish, but with time and the right training…yes, I believe we may be before the beginning of the greatest Age of Evil!"

Amidst the sudden cacophony of joyous laughs and screams of the creatures in the darkness, the black-haired boy was barely able to mutter a single phrase.

"I want to go home…"

"Oh, worry not, my young lord. You're home now." spoke the hunched creature in a very bad attempt at a soothing voice, even as Kazuto felt his consciousness slipping away. "And soon, the world shall kneel before the new Overlord! After all…Evil Always finds a Way."

And while above the ground life went on as if nothing had happened except for a missing child, under the Earth, inhuman beings got to work, for the time of Evil was coming once again…

* * *

 **November 6th, 2022. Japan, a hidden cabin somewhere in the countryside. 19:00…**

With a satisfied sigh, Kayaba Akihiko kept typing on a keyboard of the pseudo-lab he had prepared on his 'hideout', finishing the last touches and checkouts he had to do before Diving once again, ready to enter his world as just another 'player'.

It had been a bit over an hour since he finished the 'Tutorial' of Sword Art Online, and he assumed that by that point most of the trapped players would have already dispersed from the central plaza of Starting City, be it to try and hide to deny reality or to rush off into the fields to start clearing the game. Either way, at this point no one would notice when a new player showed up out of nowhere and started walking among them, none of them ever wiser of his identity as their jailer.

His dream could finally begin, to see that world he had longed for since he saw that floating castle in his dreams. And nothing would be able to stop it, not as long as the Cardinal System existed. At this point, even HE himself would be unable to stop the Management AI if he didn't have the only remaining Admin. Account, so advanced and self-improving his greatest creation (Not counting Aincrad itself) was.

Truly, there was nothing now that could stop his dream from being reali…

The man's thoughts found themselves brutally interrupted by the ground starting to shake, making his eyes widen as he looked around. An Earthquake? But why did it seem like…?!

A sudden sound outside made the father of virtual reality stand up and rush towards the closest window, suddenly on edge, wondering if somehow the impossible had happened and someone had found him…

…in time to see a massive (Almost as tall as his cabin and half as wide) and sinister-looking 'altar' finished emerging from the earth, claw-like pillars with a hole in its center and steps surrounding it making the obsidian structure seem like something straight out of a Lovecraftian novel.

For a moment, Kayaba wondered if maybe his consciousness was purer than he thought and a part of him had descended into insanity to try and deal with the guilt of his actions.

When bluish eldritch energy started to flow from within the alien-looking altar, though, and inhuman shapes started to literally _materialize_ from within, his screaming survival instincts took over and the man bolted for the backdoor, his heart suddenly hammering in his chest as his mind tried to make sense of the impossibility that was taking place…

And then the putrid smell of rotting flesh hit him head-on just as he reached the door, his hand moving away from it as he saw rusty metallic claws tear through the wood and metal as if it was paper, taking it down with laughable easiness.

For a moment, he could almost have sworn that there was _Nothing_ there, but the nauseating smell was quickly accompanied by eerie laughs as three greenish and _goblin-like_ creatures appeared seemingly out of thin air, long fangs on their grinning face and spikes coming from their tails, their yellowish eyes fixed on him.

"Found evil humie! Evil humie who thinks himself eviler than our master!"

The creator of SAO didn't even stop to be horrified before turning around and running as fast as he could towards the front door, hoping against hope that he could still escape that surrealistic nightmare.

His hopes were crushed as said door was broken apart just as he was about to reach it, a literal horde of creatures similar to the ones from before rushing into his cabin, though these ones were brownish in color and lacked tails. Not to mention most of them were dressed in fur loincloths and armed with kitchen knives, baseball bats, crowbars…and a rubber chicken in one case. Ironically, that particular creature was also wearing primitive-looking metal armor and had a Dragon Ball mask (The kind you could find in festivals being sold to kids) on. And was riding a dog who someone had stuck a paper with the label 'not-wolfy' on its side.

Just as he was wondered if he should just fall to his knees and beg that this was only a dream, Kayaba froze as the laughing creatures opened way for an otherworldly presence to enter the room.

A dark figure entered, clad in jet-black armor that covered him wholly, a wicked-looking blade filled with arcane symbols of evil tightly gripped in his hand, the white mantle he carried seeming a bit too thick for the warm weather they were having, but doubtlessly fitting with his sinister image, especially with the glowing golden eyes that stared at him from within his darkened helmet.

…he was also not very tall. In fact, Kayaba was probably a couple heads taller than the imposing dark being, who couldn't be more than a teenager given the evidence.

 **"Kayaba Akihiko."** spoke the Dark One with a sinister and soul-chilling voice before pausing, making a gesture with his empty hand…which made several of the creatures rush forward and form a makeshift inhuman stepladder, over which he quickly stepped to now tower slightly over the man. **"Good minions…ehem, Kayaba Akihiko! Your days of trying to do evil are over."**

"Yes, yes, as master said!" grinned the creature riding the dog while waving his rubber chicken from side to side. "You tried to be more evil than him by trapping all those innocent humies and threatening with killing them! But no more! Now you have fallen before his mighty evilness!"

 **"…ehm, yes, that's right. Totally right. And that's why you're now going to release everyone from SAO…because I can't allow you to be eviler than me. Not because I'm trying to save all those innocent people. Not at all."**

Blinking, the scientist STARED at the dark and imposing figure, the oddly specific denial having somehow been weirder than the entire situation, even if none of the creatures surrounding him (And those green ones from before had arrived to join in) seemed to find anything weird with their master's words.

"So, uhm…are you going to kill me after I release everyone?" ventured the man while trying to recover his lost cool.

 **"NO!"** shouted the Dark One before quickly coughing in his fist and adding more. **"That is…I could use your talents for Evil under my command. After all, my Evil Army could benefit from a slave of your caliber. Yeah…that."**

"And…if I refuse?"

 **"…then I will sick the minions on you, I'm afraid."** sighed the dark figure while making wild gestures with his empty hand and trying that his 'minions' wouldn't notice, as if urging him to accept the damn offer.

"…just who the hell are you?" was what Kayaba said instead, feeling completely and utterly lost.

At his words, the minions stilled, before all of them started to sing praises and words in a sinister tone, chants about Evil and Death and Destruction…and the annihilation of cute and adorable things.

As if that was a cue, the Dark One stood taller, raising his sword over his head while eldritch power gathered on his empty hand.

 **"I'm the Supreme Ruler of the Netherworld! The Master of Darkness! The Future Owner of this World!"** shouted the teenager in an overly dramatic and 'evil' voice, which the minions seemed to love as they started to celebrate louder. **"I'm Overlord Kirito! And today, with your fall, Kayaba, is the day when the new age of Evil begins!"**

And as the minions cheered and screamed and started to randomly break things (One of them accidentally ramming his head on a computer and frying himself to death), the most wanted 'terrorist' in the world could only stare at 'Kirito' as he looked down at him, for the first time noticing the almost desperate look the very much human black eyes behind the golden glow seemed to have, as well as the single plea they carried within.

 _"Fucking please, help me."_

* * *

 **SaintInfernalNeos presents…**

 **OverGamer**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Welcome to a completely evil story about the evilness of Kirito, the Overlord, who totally wants to take over the world and impose Evil as the supreme power. Really :D

Being serious, though, and while the number of amusing ideas for this madness are bursting from my head, I promise you that this will be it for now. I have more than enough writing "OPG: Chains of Fate" and two other fics to go back to after that to start yet another one. If anyone is interested in adopting this, though, feel free to PM me so we can talk, you will be more than welcome to it. After all, you know what they say, evil is fun and it always finds a way…even if the one supposed to be evil doesn't want that at all XD

Till next time, this has been Saint for you all, folks!


	2. Chapter 1: The Lord of Evil

…sigh, I'm terrible, I know. Fuck, I put my other two SAO fics on hiatus to work on Chains of Fate, I shouldn't be doing this! But my hands won't freaking listen to me…

Anyway, on the plus side, this once again took me just a day to make (The delay is mostly because I had to study for an exam I have tomorrow), so it hasn't really delayed my work on OPG…yet.

But well, let's forget about that for now and leave you all with this stupidly cracky story about Evil and silliness, shall we? Time to get some backstory and explanations!

Also, to those that couldn't bother to read and remember the Dates I write, this chapter starts a few hours before the last scene of the prologue XP Now, enjoy!

 **Disclaimer:** Neither SAO nor Overlord belong to me. I'm just mixing the characters and plots for fun because I'm weird like that.

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The Lord of Evil…kinda!**

 **November 6th, 2022. Japan, Tokigawa. Somewhere deep underground, 17:30…**

Within the dark caverns, hanging over a seemingly bottomless pit of darkness and magma, what was probably the biggest stalactite in the world was a buzz of sinister activity, ominous and glowing lights coming from several points of the massive inverted structure. Also, there were a bunch of floating rocks all around, humming with evil power and an obvious dislike for the law of gravity.

This was the Netherworld Tower, once upon a time the bastion and heart of All That was Evil in this World. And after 4 years of hard, sleepless and explosions-filled minion work (Which honestly wasn't all that good), it was finally starting to recover some of its former glory.

Rushing through the twisted corridors, rooms and 'open' areas of the evil fortress, the Browns (The most basic, numerous and arguably stupid tribe of Minions) worked tirelessly, be it by cleaning visible places (And throwing all the trash and dust on the out-of-view corners), moving boxes with important supplies to their proper places (And at least a fifth of them exploding on the way…despite the boxes not containing anything explosive), or throwing their tired brethren off the tower and into the lava, so that new ones that weren't tired could spawn and get to work (Flawless minion logic).

And walking down one of the aforementioned many hallways, a teenager with black-hair and sinister-looking robes hurried his footsteps, as if trying to leave behind the surprisingly nimble old-looking minion that followed him, an ancient-looking 'stick' with a glowing crystal of yellowish light tied on its tip.

"My lord, please, be reasonable." pleaded the aged Hellspawn with a tired tone, as if this wasn't the first time he had that particular argument. "You need to dedicate more time to your training on the Evil Arts and…"

"For the last bloody time, Gnarl, I don't want to spend 12 hours a day 'honing my Evilness'! I don't even want to be Evil, for God's sake!" shouted the now 14-years-old Kirigaya Kazuto as he glared to the Minion Master, never once stopping his walk. "How hard is it to accept that I'm NOT your Overlord?!"

"…master, you can shoot lightning and fire from your hands, call forth the eldritch forces of evil to destroy life and bend weak minds to do your bidding." deadpanned Gnarl while the teen blushed in embarrassment and looked away. "Sure, we helped you learn how to do all those things, but you already had the potential for it in you, which you wouldn't have if you weren't, in fact, a descendant of our previous Overlord."

"…ugh…I can't believe I ever wished to run away from home." lamented the boy as they reached the imposing Throne Room, now much better lit than when he had fallen on it years ago, not to mention cleaner and with minions going around moving things, more than one stopping to bow to him as he passed by, even if that meant dropping whatever they were carrying (And causing an explosion because of it in some cases) "I should have talked it out with mom and dad, or shut myself into gaming, or something! Anything but the stupid decision that led me…here!"

"There is a limit to everything, my lord, and self-denial is no exception. You were _destined_ to come here and wake us from our slumber." continued the Hellspawn as they went past the majestic Evil Throne, ascending the stairs on the back of the room. "It was your destiny to come here and reclaim your lost legacy and become the next Overlord! You were destined for greatness since you were born!"

"Okay, first of all, that sounds like a load of bullshit any randomly evil guy from a Shonen series would say, but then again I have come to expect that." sighed Kazuto as they finally reached the Overlord's Personal Chambers, the black-haired boy immediately discarding his 'evil robe' as he entered, leaving him on the plain black clothes (Which looked pretty normal and common for this day and age) he wore underneath. "Second, you all but kidnapped me! I have been living down here for four fucking years! All that I eat are things the minions steal or hunt from the surface (And it's a miracle among miracles no one has caught them yet) and all that I wear are either these oversized robes or stolen clothes! How do you expect me to feel about all of that?!"

"Technically, you fell down here to us out of your own design, my lord." Pointed out Gnarl while his 'master' headed towards a couch (Stolen from the surface) and grabbed his nearby laptop (Also stolen, in a way messier incident, from the surface) from the sinister stone table beside it. "We simply 'kept' you here so as to you could learn and master everything you need to fulfill your destiny. I calculate that in 8 more years or so your training will be complete…"

"And you still think it's weird that I look forward to being here surfing the internet most of the time?" groaned the Overlord-in-training while resisting the urge to facepalm, quickly opening the PC and bringing up the latest page with News of the country. "I'm only glad that the minions finally managed to bring a dammed connection here after 2 years of trying…even if what remains of my sanity stops me from asking how the fuck they did it."

"It was actually easier than bringing signal for the stolen televisions was, my lord. Or electricity in the first place…On that note, I must urge that you keep denying any request from them to own their own computers. Statistics prove that the rate of randomly stupid deaths grew in a 150% after they started watching TV, and I don't even want to imagine how access to this internet-thing would affect them…"

"Duly noted, Gnarl, though it's not as if I was going to let them any…what?"

"My lord?" muttered the Minion Master in confusion at seeing his eyes widening as he stared at his laptop's screen. "Is something wrong?"

For all answer, Kazuto shot to his feet and reached for his robe, putting it on hurriedly as he headed downstairs once again faster than the Hellspawn had ever seen him doing, prompting him to quickly follow in time to see him all but jumping into his Throne.

Instantly, the eldritch powers of EVIL gathered around the boy, his eyes shining with a sinister golden color as every minion within the Netherworld froze, feeling their master's will flaring over them.

"Put down the big TV in the Throne Room, now!"

Quickly scrambling to follow the order, more than one Brown within the room accidentally crashing with their brethren in the process, the 'television' of the Throne Room, or, more exactly, the abomination mix of magic and science the teenager and his Minion Master had put together using a plasma TV and projection spells, came to life, letting a massive 'holographic' (Technically a magical evil projection, but still) to appear, the boy quickly using his dark magic as a glorified remote control, changing channels until he arrived at one broadcasting an emergency report for all of Japan to hear.

"…10000 people trapped within the game; of which over 200 have already died because of people ignoring Kayaba's warning. At this point, it's unclear what the man's purpose is, but the government is quickly working on transferring all victims into…"

"…by all that is Evil…" muttered Gnarl while the minions watched in muted shock…mostly because a lot of them couldn't properly understand what was being explained, really.

"All that people…God…how…how could he do something like that…?" muttered Kazuto while staring at the screen in shock. "We…we have to stop this!"

If there was another thing besides being separated from his family that he truly regretted of his non-imprisonment within the Netherworld was having missed enjoying of Virtual Reality's revolution thanks to Kayaba Akihiko's Nerve Gear. When Sword Art Online had been announced and he had realized he would never be able to play the thing, he may or may have not accidentally blasted several minions off the tower.

After all, even if he got them to steal a Nerve Gear for him, the internet connection down there was so bad that playing would be a nightmare, but given that he could spend 10 minutes alone without something or someone requiring his attention so that the retarded creatures didn't blow up the whole Netherworld by mistake, so…yeah.

To think that the man would do such madness, dooming all that people and sinking the world into chaos and despair without any care, it was…!

"Indeed, my lord! How dare that man think he can be eviler than you?!" snarled Gnarl with an unusually angry tone, making Kazuto blink and stare dumbly at him. "We can't let this insult go unpunished! No one can be eviler than the Overlord!"

"Uhm…yeah, exactly, we can't let him get away with this!" quickly said the black-haired boy while standing up, gathering all the minions' attention on him as he raised a closed fist. "That's why we're going right now to stop him and free all the people from SAO! To, eh…to show him that no evil plan that isn't mine is allowed to exist!"

For a moment, absolute silence filled the room as the Overlord-to-be started sweating bullets, wondering if he had said the wrong thing…before the minions exploded into evil cheers, more than one starting to slam his head against the ground or wall in 'celebration'.

"You heard the Overlord, you bunch of idiots! Get the weapons we have stolen from the surface ready, prepare a Netherworld Gate to be excavated to the surface and ask the Blues to locate Kayaba Akihiko with their magic!" shouted Gnarl over the cacophony of evil glee, a grin on his face as he turned to look at his master. "Got to say, my lord, I never thought the day I would hear you say such words would come so soon! It feels my dark heart with evil glee to see you finally embracing the cause of Evilness! You will lead your hordes to victory against this puny man!"

"Uhm, of course Gnarl, guess I just needed some…motivation. And now…Minions! Prepare my…ugh." taking a deep breath, almost unable to believe he was saying those words, Kazuto forced himself to adopt his best 'evil' face as he finally gave the order a part of him had been hoping would never be needed. "Prepare my Evil Armor!"

More cheers erupted as the center of the Throne Room shone with bluish power, raw Evil forces coalescing themselves as the black-haired boy walked forward and discarded his robe once again, Minions gathering as floating pieces of jet-black metal floated within the eldritch power, quickly fetching them as their master stretched his arms.

One by one, with surprising ease and precision for their usually stupid and clumsy antics, the minions fastened the armor around their Overlord, a part of him shuddering at how _right_ it felt to wear the thing, how powerful having that mantle draped over his shoulders made him feel, how _complete_ he felt once the sinister helmet hid his face from the world and gave his voice a darker and 'eviler' tone.

Kirigaya Kazuto vanished as the Overlord stood turned around, the Minions cheering while Gnarl gave an approving nod at the new Dark One, even as several Browns came rushing forward, almost tripping and beheading themselves with the dark and diabolical blade they were carrying, finally stopping before their master and falling to their knees as they offered it to him.

As his hand gripped the evil-looking sword, raising it over his head as eldritch energies surrounded it (And him) under the minions' cheers, the boy couldn't help but feel that maybe he had gone way too far. Still, if he wanted any chance of ever escaping this madness, he would need to play along.

And so, as Gnarl called him to follow towards where the Blues were gathering to locate Kayaba through their arcane and evil spells, the 'Dark One' swore that this would be his first and last action as 'The Overlord'.

On Its Throne Above Everything, [FATE] felt the need to chuckle. It quickly ignored it.

Two hours later, the portal of the Throne Room shone with bluish power, Gnarl turning around excitedly to see his master and the Minions come back (Some of them carrying what seemed like very complex pieces of technology), their enemy and now clearly prisoner tied up with ropes as he stared wide-eyed at the surroundings of the underground 'tower'.

"Ah, welcome back, my lord! I see that your first endeavor as Overlord has been a huge success!"

"…we entered that altar-thing and we…teleported 'here' in an instant…" muttered the disturbed-looking man while gaping at everything. "How…?"

 **"Evil magic, now shut up Kayaba…and yes Gnarl, it was, it was. We only lost 3 minions, and that's because they killed themselves by ramming head-first into some very complex computers."** commented the Dark One with a tired tone, very at odds and weird to hear with his dark and deep voice altered by the helmet. **"Thankfully, Rubber-band was able to have the rest gather the corpses quickly…also, we looted everything that wasn't bolted down on his cabin and then set it on fire."**

"Rubber-band successful in serving the Overlord!" proclaimed the armored minion with the Goku mask that was riding the eager-looking dog, which he proceeded to happily pat. "And Not-Wolfy did great job too carrying me!"

"…I have been meaning to ask, but why is he riding that do…?"

 **"Stole it from a pet shop last year, has been raising it since then, it's apparently the closest thing to the wolf-rides they used to have. Seriously, Kayaba, shut up."** groaned Kazuto before moving towards his Throne and sitting down, suddenly looking extremely tired **. "What a day…minions, go put everything we…appropriated on the closest storage room. And Kayaba…actually, let me think about it…"**

"Should we throw him into the Dungeon of Despair until you decide, my Overlord?" asked Gnarl with a sinister grin, Kayaba's head snapped in his direction with shocked eyes.

 **"…yeah, sure, do that. I'm…going to retire to my chambers."** muttered the Dark One while the minions took the most wanted man in the country away, ignoring his protests as the boy sighed and took off his helmet, his next words coming out with his normal voice. "I barely did anything, yet I feel so…fucking tired…"

"Well, you're the youngest Overlord ever to go off in an official 'evil deed', not to mention without your training being complete. Even for someone as gifted as you, my lord, I assume it would be difficult." explained the Hellspawn as he followed his master towards his room. "Nevertheless, I believe that same massive potential of yours is what allowed you to fulfill it perfectly!"

"I wouldn't say 'perfectly', but well…better than a catastrophe, I guess." sighed Kazuto as he stopped before his door, turning to look at the Minion Master with a stern expression. "Gnarl, I'm going to be resting for a couple hours at least, if you could be so kind of making sure no one disturbs me and the minions don't kill each other more than usual…?"

"It will be done, my lord. Go and bask in the glorious feeling of your first official act as Overlord, I'm sure it's only the beginning of many evil things to come!"

And as Gnarl laughed sinisterly at his own words, the black-haired boy entered his room, headed straight for his couch and grabbed the thumb drive he had gotten from Kayaba's hideout, connecting it to his computer and sitting down to look what was inside.

Thirty minutes later, a nodding teenager was staring at his screen with a single and clear realization.

"I have no fucking idea of what all of this is."

"Well, I would be more surprised if you did, honestly." came an unexpected voice from behind him, making Kazuto turn around in shock to see Kayaba Akihiko standing on his door, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "Hello there, Overlord Kirito-kun. Got to say, you look very…normal, out of your armor."

"…didn't the minions throw you into the Dungeon of Despair?"

"They accidentally threw _themselves_ in after I asked them how were they so sure no one could escape from it." deadpanned the scientists while walking into the room, keenly noticing how the boy groaned in annoyance. "They're not very…bright, right?"

"That's the understatement of the millennium." growled the teen before turning once again to his computer, ignoring the criminal standing near him. "Some days I'm scared I will wake up and find the whole place on fire or about to self-destruct."

"Wait, there is a self-dest…? Never mind, forget I asked." quickly stopped Kayaba before looking with a mix of confusion and curiosity to the boy. "You know, you're acting very calmly for someone whose prisoner has escaped and managed to get into his private rooms."

"I can shoot lightning from my fingertips and create fire strong enough to melt throw steel with a hand-gesture. Also, I have been forced through ridiculous and hellish physical training for the last 4 years. Forgive me if the evil father of modern virtual reality doesn't scare me that much." sarcastically answered the young Overlord before simply closing his laptop. "Ugh, this is seriously way above my knowledge…"

"Well, it IS knowledge that even those who worked with me would find difficult and if I'm anyone to judge you have been down here since you were…11? 12? I'm surprised you can use that computer so well at all." commented the scientist while walking slightly away from the couch, the words about that the seemingly normal teenager before him could do clearly having affected him. "…also, I'm not evil."

"Since I was 10, actually, I'm 14 now, but I have been, let's say…home-schooled. The minions may always be jumping between stupidly clever and hopelessly retarded, but they're good at stealing things and taking them back here more or less intact, like books. Also, Gnarl is absurdly smart and a good teacher…if you get past how all his lessons try to indoctrinate you about the greatness of Evil." explained Kazuto with a weirdly fond smile before turning fully towards Kayaba, an eyebrow raised. "As for you 'not being evil', how do you call basically kidnapping 10000 people, threatening their lives, being indirectly responsible for the death of over 200 and causing what's probably the biggest 'terrorist act' in Japan's recent history?"

"I…well, when you put it like that…" mumbling incoherently and clearly unable to find a proper answer, the man sat on one of the sinister stone-chairs with a defeated look. "…it's a long and complicated story."

"Oh, you want to hear a long and complicated story? Here, let me give you one for free!" spoke Kazuto while sitting up and looking at Kayaba straight in the eyes. "Once upon a time, magic, mythical beasts and all that crap from fairy tales were actually real, both the good…and the bad. And the evilest of them all was the Overlord, an actual honest-to-God Evil Ruler of Darkness, powered by Evil itself and leading his demonic armies of Minions to crush everything that stood in his way…and anything that didn't and that was good, too, because it apparently came with the job. Until one day, hundreds of years ago, the last Overlord came all the way to this land…Japan…and bit off more than he could chew. Youkai, Guardian Spirits, Minor Deities, you name it if you know enough about our country's folklore. They all banded together to fight off the Overlord."

"…well, that certainly sounds…good, I guess?" ventured the scientist while trying to wrap his head about such an outrageous tale.

"Not so much. All of those things are dead, they died fighting most of the Overlord's armies and finally him…yeah, bastard was THAT broken." confirmed Kazuto upon seeing the man's stunned expression at the idea of someone being able to take down every single mythological creature of Japan, a lot of which were absurdly powerful, if myths were to be believed. "Their few remaining followers knew they did not have the power to end what remained of the Overlord's forces, so they decided to seal them away in Mt. Raiden! Nice stuff, eh? Too bad, most of the ones who did the sealing dying and the few remaining ones scattered to the winds, in time forgetting everything about this place and the seal. Then, four years ago, a stupid kid found out he was adopted and instead of talking things out with his family he ran away from home, somehow managed to get all the way here out of dumb (Bad) luck and accidentally broke the seal! And now he's stuck into becoming the new Ruler of All that is Evil!"

"…I take it you have needed to get that out of chest for quite some time?" asked Kayaba while recoiling a bit at the angry face and glowing golden eyes, only for him to sigh and fall back into his couch with a tired look. "…still, for YOU of all people to stumble upon this place and accidentally break an ancient magical seal, it sounds a bit…"

"Like a cheap manga plot? Wait for it, it gets better: Apparently, I could that because I'm a fucking _descendant_ of the last Overlord! Seems like the guy had 'family' (Or at least a very loose and evil definition of it), and they ran away when everything went to hell. Most supposedly were killed, if Gnarl is to be believed, but at least one of his mistresses and her child must have managed to go into hidden and, countless generations later, here you have me. Hooray."

"…you are right, it DOES sound like a very convoluted and stupidly convenient manga plot."

"Do you know what Gnarl told me when I told him that exact same thing? 'Evil Always finds a Way, master'." mimicked Kazuto with annoyance before slamming his face on the couch. "God, that's such bullshit…"

"I…take it you didn't really go to stop because I was 'being eviler than you', then?" carefully questioned the scientist while looking at the boy with a strange look.

"Yes, more or less. Try as he might, Gnarl hasn't managed to 'turn me completely evil' yet, even if I'm probably pretty fucked up by normal human standards, so as soon as I saw what was happening and knew I had the power to stop it…I acted." turning to look at the dark ceiling of his room, the young Overlord raised a hand and lazily let the eldritch forces of darkness dance around it like hungry worms, making Kayaba gulp as he watched the scientific impossibility. "But also because I wanted to get the hell out of this shitty underground place once and for all, it has been so long I had almost forgotten what the sun felt like…"

"You have it rough, I see…and I guess the fact that you so 'calmly' swear in most of your sentences probably is because of that too?"

"You try to keep all of your morals intact when the only 'people' you can interact with are the half-retarded devilish servants of Evil and their not-so-stupid, but way eviler, guide. As I said, I AM fucked up…I mean, look!" happily pointed out Kazuto while grinning at the man. "You're one of the biggest criminals in Japan's history, have murdered over 200 people for seemingly no logical reason, don't seem particularly guilty over it…and I don't give a fuck because you're the sanest and most normal person I have talked to in the last years!"

"…SO! Are you really going to, you know, conquer the world?" desperately asked the scientist while trying not to freak out, finally starting to realize how dangerously unstable the teenager before him was. "You know how, no offense, it's all but impossible for you to do so with what you have, right?"

"And you think I haven't noticed by now?" dryly asked the black-haired boy while slamming his face on his hands. "Evil eldritch magic and a nigh-unlimited supply of disposable 'soldiers' can just do so much in a world of advanced technology and weapons of mass destruction."

Even if he managed to become as powerful as the last Overlord had been, which he seriously doubted, Kazuto knew it would all be meaningless the moment someone decided to cut their losses and do something along the lines of dropping a nuke on him and his forces…if he truly _did_ try to conquer the world at least.

"…haven't you considered, you know, running away? Maybe get back to your family?"

"Almost every day since I got here, but I quickly realized how pointless it was." sighed the young Overlord before looking to the side, his gaze suddenly distant and a bittersweet smile on his face. "I ran away because I found out I was adopted and I'm pretty sure I left my PC with the document showing that on the screen, which meant they probably found out right away. Even if I managed to escape and they wanted me back, which I doubt after 4 years of who knows how much misery and pain thinking I'm dead or something, the Minions would find me in minutes. I would only be screwing _their_ lives too, so…yeah, I think I'm going to try and conquer the world, if only because that way at least I will be the only one who ends up fucked when it all comes crashing down."

"I…see…" whispered Kayaba while his mind ran a thousand miles per hour, crazy options and insane plans that, given his current situation, _weren't_ really that crazy, running through his mind. "…want me to help you?"

"…what." flatly stated (Not even able to formulate it as a question) the boy as he stared towards the scientist with blank eyes.

"Well, from where I'm standing, right now I only have a few options, given that you clearly were acting before so that your 'minions' wouldn't kill me: Either I spent who knows how long in your dungeons until I either die or something catastrophic happens, am killed by your minions because you're forced to accept I have no value to you…or I actively try to help you so that your mad quest for World Domination doesn't end catastrophically wrong and as such stay alive."

"Are you…seriously saying you want to help me take over the world?" deadpanned the young Overlord with a raised eyebrow.

"As you yourself so kindly put it, I'm technically a mass murderer and probably worldwide-criminal now, and have no resources left for me after you 'captured' me. Even if I managed to escape from here, lifelong prison is _the best_ I can hope to get back to, so…why the hell not?" summarized Kayaba with a shrug.

Sure, there was also a part of him that wanted to keep an eye on the boy to make sure he didn't accidentally snap and destroyed the country and killed everyone on it or something before being put down, as hypocritical as it was for him, of all people, to be worried about such a thing, but there was no need to mention that out loud.

"…how would you even help me out with this?" questioned Kazuto with an intrigued look.

"Given how you have somehow managed to get electricity and internet connection down here, I believe that in that same way. Tell me, Kirito, what do you know of the Cardinal System?"

"Actually, my name is Kirigaya Kazuto…it's just that it doesn't really sound imposing or evil, so I made up that 'alias'. And yes, I know it's just the first syllables of my surname with the last one of my name, I was ten when I came up with it." clarified him upon the man's deadpanning look. "And about Cardinal, well, only what the internet has and you yourself answered in that interview on TV not long ago…why?"

"Well…"

Almost 20 minutes later, once the explanation was finished, Kazuto had such a massive and disturbing smile on his face that Kayaba almost had second thoughts about his offer. Almost.

"Oh, yes, I see how something like that could be useful in our 'cause', indeed." chuckled the black-haired boy in a way that truly made one wonder if he wasn't really related to the Overlord he denied so much being. "And 'getting it back' wouldn't be nearly as difficult as you think."

"Really…? No, wait, why am I asking? You managed to _find me_ in less than 2 hours when I had calculated the government would take years to do so, this would probably be child's play for you in comparison." shaking his head, the scientist looked back at the young Overlord with a neutral gaze. "So…?"

"Welcome to the side of 'Evil', Kayaba." smiled Kazuto while standing up, and offering his hand to the biggest criminal of the country. "I'm sure that whatever happened from now on, your life will be way more useful as part of my 'army' than as the jailer of 10000 innocent people."

And as he took the young Overlord's hand and diabolical energy enveloped the handshake, making his very soul shiver, Kayaba wondered if in some twisted way the boy could be _right_ about his declaration.

"…also, if you could prevent your minions from destroying the big machine you took from my hideout, it would be great. There is no other prototype nor data for the Deep-Scan Machine anywhere else after you stole all of it, and I'm sure it could be useful for us…somehow."

"What's a Deep-Scan…? Eh, whatever, you can explain it later; right now we have work to do."

"We do…?"

"Of course! After all, if we're going to do THAT, we need a proper distraction in place, don't we? On that note, I hope your expertise in machines translate well to my particularly primitive and blasphemous fusion of magic and technology…"

The following evil laugh made the scientist completely sure that, as much as he denied it, a part of the boy was already totally and irremediably corrupted…

* * *

"…I'm home."

As usual, no one answered the soft voice of the 13-years-old girl with a schoolbag and a shinai-bag over her back as she entered the house, the empty hallway seeming unusually depressing and desolated.

Then again, that's how they had felt for the last 4 years, so it wasn't any real surprise for her.

Idly, the black-haired girl walked towards the kitchen, opened the fridge and grabbed a water bottle she had left there earlier, walking back towards her room once she did so.

Just as she went past the living room, though, her traitorous gaze moved towards a small table on the side, where a small portrait with a picture rested.

On it, an old man in a kendo hakama stared sternly at the camera while 2 kids dressed similarly stood at his sides holding small shinai, the little girl looking cheerful while the little boy looked bored.

Kirigaya Suguha blinked, wondering in which moment she had dropped her water bottle, walked to the table and slammed the portrait down, so as the picture wasn't visible anymore. Taking a deep breath, she shook her head, grabbed the bottle and went up to her room without looking back.

If anyone was there to see her room as she dropped her bags and changed out of her school uniform, they would have noticed it hadn't changed that much in the last 4 years.

A couple of cute plushies still adorned her bed. Books about Kendo and fairy tales still rested on the shelves (Even if the latter hadn't been touched in quite some time).

In fact, the only **big** change that the room had experienced…was the professional-looking computer with 3 screens that sat on a corner of it, a couple of books about its maintenance resting on the side, looking pristine and well-cared. As it had been since it was moved from the empty, silent and now locked room beside hers, almost 4 years ago.

As soon as she was changed, the girl booted the computer up, idly thinking about the reason why she was home even later than usual (It was a bit after 9 in the evening, after all).

Honestly, that whole 'SAO Incident' had been so bizarre and ended so fast that, if it wasn't because of the confirmation about at least 2 hundred people having died, she would have thought it was just some very complicated joke. From what her kendo club's advisor had told them, some victims were still being moved to hospitals when all of them had been released at once, which had almost caused more accidents than their 'virtual imprisonment' itself, given that the great majority of them had been still in denial about their situation or having mental breakdowns when they suddenly found themselves back in the real world.

Checking through the internet a couple times showed her how, indeed, there were still no clues or explanation about what had happened, the criminal behind the act, the game's creator having made no further declarations after his earlier ones about the trapped players, no apparent reason as to why he would suddenly free all his 'hostages' (Though countless speculation had already emerged, from suicidal guilt to aliens being involved, as usually happened on the internet). Kayaba something, though she wasn't sure as she wasn't really into technology, unlike…unlike…

Suguha slapped both her cheeks at the same time as she took another deep breath, barely hearing the emergency broadcast she had found on a specific webpage about the more-or-less resolved SAO incident as she stared at nothing and everything.

She shouldn't be letting herself have these 'episodes' anymore. It had been four years already. She had to concentrate on her exams and to practice extra-hard to try and get into the Kendo nationals next year. She shouldn't be letting her bro… _Kazuto's_ disappearance to affect her like this anymore.

"…then why did I bring the damn computer to my room? Why did I insist mom I didn't need to see a psychologist? Why…?" doing her best to not sob as she teared up, the young kendoka barely repressed the need to hug herself. "Why did you leave us without a word…Onii-chan…?"

 _"…still no news about Kayaba Akihiko's whereabouts, but the authorities confirm that all the remaining victims are safe and being carefully returned to_ -I-I-I-I-WE INTERRUPT YOUR HUMAN TRANSMISSION THANKS TO THE POWER OF EVIL!"

"…what?" asked a confused Suguha while raising her gaze, the visage of the man announcing the news having vanished to be replaced by weird static and the grinning form of a hunched creature with a stick tipped by a glowing crystal on his back.

"Don't try and stop it, puny humans, because the Lord of All that is Evil has something to tell you now!" sinisterly informed the creature before the static was replaced by the view of a sinister and dark place, filled with diabolical-looking markings and decorations, a bunch of strange and ugly creatures with yellowish eyes surrounding the area.

What truly drew the attention of every single person in Japan watching this, though, weren't the odd monster, but the dark armored figure with an evil-looking blade that stood tall in the middle of it, besides the beaten and bloody form of Kayaba Akihiko himself.

 **"Greetings, people of Japan. I'm the Overlord Kirito, Lord of Evil, Master of Darkness and Conqueror of the Night."** spoke the Dark One with his sinister and otherworldly voice, sending shivers into the souls of all those watching. **"At this point, you may all be wondering why the so-called 'SAO Incident' ended all of a sudden, right? Well, think no more: It was because of me. I have taken Kayaba Akihiko into my custody and ended this 'farce' plan of his."**

"…i-is this…some kind of joke…?" gulped the young kendoka with her eyes glued to the screen, unknowingly thinking the same as countless people watching the illegal transmission, countless ones trying to track it down being only met by outrageous results.

 **"Do not mistake it as an act of pity or mercy towards you, though! My actions today are only because NO ONE in this one is allowed to be eviler than me!"** remarked the Overlord while raising his empty hand, eldritch power dancing around it as the minions around cheered and laughed in disturbingly sinister ways. " **Today is but the beginning of a New Age! For too long has this world gone without knowing the might of Darkness, forgetting what True Evil is about! Let this be a lesson for you all, humans, there is only one who is fated to bring the Despair to rule It All…"**

As he said those words, the black blade was raised over his head, millions of eyes fixed on it.

"N-no way…he's seriously going to…?" whispered Suguha while paling, though unable to look away from the macabre sight.

 **"…and Evil Always Finds a Way."**

With that dark proclamation, the sword descended straight towards Kayaba Akihiko's head.

…and the transmission cut off right that instant, leaving nothing but static in the screens of people all around Japan, who stared with mixes of disbelief, horror, fear, anger and, in some weird cases, 'Hype'.

Back at the Netherworld Tower, though…Kazuto sighed as he let go of his sword, now impaled just beside where Kayaba's head had been a moment before and took off his helmet while some Blues rushed towards the pale man, using their control over Evil Magic to somewhat heal him (Even if the process was quite painful).

"Well, that went well. People will be confused, scared, and/or trying to uncover this 'scam' for several hours now. More than enough time for us to complete our plans."

"It was a magnificent at, my lord!" praised Gnarl while walking beside his master. "To be expected of you, of course! Not only did you manage to bend this human's will to serve you without having to use your powers, you also improvised a devious plan to take advantage of his resources right away!"

"Was it…necessary to let the…Browns actually beat me half to death for it…?" moaned Kayaba while twitching on the ground, trying his best to not scream as he felt the 'Evil Healing Magic' making him feel every single one of his wounds backward as it eliminated them.

"Why, of course! We're Evil, we don't do things half-assed, after all!" proudly declared Gnarl as answer

"…what he said." sighed the young Overlord before turning around, looking all serious once again. "Now get ready and wake up some Reds, also a couple Greens while you're at it. We're about to infiltrate Argus' main building and steal the Main SAO Servers!"

"Wait…we?" groaned Kayaba while finally standing up on wobbly legs, ignoring the amused (And stupid) looks more than one minion gave him.

"Yes, _we_. This is a very risky operation that will be relying mainly on shock value and the element of surprise to get in, take what we want and get back here, so your firsthand knowledge of the building and codes will be essential." explained the black-haired boy as he sat on his Throne and started doing…'something' that the man couldn't understand with his powers. "We can't afford any complications…because our forces aren't strong enough yet to deal with such, of course."

In other words, he didn't want this to become in a situation where his minions would simply murder everyone within the building whether they stood on their ways to the Servers containing the Cardinal System or not, and he wanted his help to have an easier time doing so.

"…yes, my Overlord, as you command." sighed the scientist while shaking his head, Gnarl giving him an approving nod at his words.

"Okay then, let's get you a 'costume' and move on! We're going to do this perfectly and without troubles, and **nothing** can possibly go wrong with this plan…"

Hours later, when he stared at the newest unwilling inhabitant of the Netherworld Tower crying her heart out on the floor while the minions surrounding them didn't seem to know how to react (Probably having to do with the half-dead one and the hissing cat beside her) as Kayaba looked at him with a blank stare, Kazuto would learn a valuable lesson.

Never fucking temp Fate.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Well, that's a lesson all Kiritos in the Multiverse should learn sooner rather than later, don't you think :P?

But yes, some more info being revealed and some craziness being explained all around in this chapter, as well as showing how despite his own wishes and affirmations this Kazuto is a bit…'troubled', let's say XP Also, Kayaba joins the Empire of Evilness! That's going to be fun, eh?

The constant references at convoluted plots and convenient things happening are not fully me trying to make this even more Crack, but actual jokes at how things DO mostly happen in the Overlord games, just that here Kazuto (And now Kayaba too) are there to point them out, then been forced to accept them anyway OwO Also showed a bit of dear Sugu-chan there, but she's, as it's obvious, quite a bit changed from her Canon self…

And well, that's all for now! Hopefully I will be calmed down and ready to get back into OPG:CoF after my exam instead of this, but whenever it may be, don't miss next chapter, when Evil Deeds are done, humanity is exposed to the idiocy of Minions, important Canon plot-devices are stolen and people is accidentally kidnapped! Fun times!

Until next time, this is Saint, signing off!


	3. Chapter 2: Evil Plans

Hi there once again, everyone! So, this week has kind of annoying for me: I had an exam at the beginning of it (Which I did great in, btw), so I spent last Sunday and all of Monday studying, then the day after the weather got horrible here and I caught a horrible cold, which had me on bed for a couple days and with almost no will to do anything another one, hence why I have barely written anything. In fact, this chapter technically was finished just between yesterday and today XP

That aside, though, I'm back and ready, and I would like to address a specific review from 'chunnin33': I don't really force myself to write CoF, I can assure you that; in fact, it's the work I probably am the most excited to write about, but it's also the one with the most details and in which most effort and research go, so writing it requires much more effort and dedication than my other random ideas, like this one, for example, which is done very fast and with little effort O,O Sorry if you haven't been enjoying that one so far, I promise it will get better, but for now, let's all turn our brains off and have some mindless 'evil' fun, okay OwO?

On with the fic!

 **Disclaimer:** Neither SAO nor Overlord belong to me. I'm just mixing the characters and plots for fun because I'm weird like that.

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Half-assed Evil Plans**

 **November 6th, 2022. Japan, Argus Main Building. 21:20…**

Chaos, worry and confusion were what filled Argus' Corporation's main building in that moment.

It was no surprise, of course, given the nightmarish day the company had been experiencing, what with the gaming system and the videogame they had developed (The Nerve Gear and SAO) being turned into a literal death trap for over 10000 people by their apparently insane manager of the 3rd developing branch and main genius behind both projects, with over 200 people actually dying in just a few hours…and then it all ending without any warning.

Oh yeah, and then an illegal transmission had somehow been broadcasted to all of Japan showing how their aforementioned employee was killed by a perhaps even crazier lunatic calling himself an 'Overlord', who had used an extreme amount of special effects and weird costumes and/or animatronics to scare the hell out of everyone (Making most of the police officers and government agents that had been dispatched there to rush off somewhere else they were suddenly needed at because of the chaos). At least that's what rational thought said.

No one wanted to actually vocalize or even consider the alternative, after all. The mere notion that, somehow, what they had seen minutes ago was… _real_.

There was no way. It wasn't possible; such things didn't, _couldn't_ , happen in reality, and that was final. After all, if there was one thing mankind could do exceptionally well was convince themselves that what they didn't want to accept didn't exist or had a perfectly logical explanation.

That's why no one could have really blamed the two nervous police officers, standing beside their car in the building's front yard, when they screamed in fear when a Netherworld Gate excavated itself from the ground like a demonic drill, opening as if some flower from nightmare.

They had barely started to reach for their side-arms as they stared in shock at the unnatural structure when a literal fireball emerged from within its eldritch blue glow, hitting their vehicle dead on.

Possessed by the most primal survival instincts humans possessed, both of them started to run as fast as they could in opposite directions, and as such only were sent flying painfully through the air when the police car exploded (Despite the fireball not having directly hit the fuel tank), one of them falling unconscious from the crash and the other slamming painfully on the grass surrounding several decoration trees.

As the latter slowly raised his head, he was in time to see an image that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Laughing sinisterly, the demonic forms of the Minions emerged from the Gate, 4 red ones at the front maniacally weaving fireballs on their hands while the rest, almost 2 dozens of Browns, armed with bats, sticks and crowbars, quickly spread out in a loose 'formation' around the evil portal.

And then, Overlord Kirito himself emerged, the figure in black armor with burning golden eyes, white mantle flapping at a nonexistent wind, being the last thing he saw before darkness claimed him.

As such, only the people on the street attracted by the explosion and the few curious idiots that were still around since the police had flooded into Argus witnessed how a tall figured in dark robes followed after the Dark One, his face covered by a featureless metallic mask filled with eldritch runes, Rubber-band (Atop his 'loyal ride'), 2 green minions and a blue one following him.

 **"Browns, close the doors and beat anyone who tries to come after us or the Gate! Blue, do your job! Greens, you know what to do. Reds, Rubber-band, with me!"** ordered the Overlord while the people around finally break out into terrified screams, running away screaming while the laughing Minions rushed to close the doors leading into Argus' front yard, even as his gaze turned to the man in the robes. **"Where are the Servers, Heathcliff?"**

"On the fifth-floor basement, Overlord. I will lead you there." calmly replied 'Heathcliff' before calmly entering the building, a grinning Rubber-band followed by the laughing Reds (Not-Wolfy's barks as background), the Greens having vanished from sight as soon as the door opened and the Blue one rushing away, the personnel still within the building running away screaming. "…was this overdramatic getup really necessary?"

 **"I just 'killed' Kayaba Akihiko in national television, I can't exactly show up doing evil acts with him right after that, right? Well…I guess I _could_ , but the terrifying implications of that would probably be too much, and I don't want to deal with even more backslash than the already guaranteed one."** explained Kazuto as they made their way through Argus' corridors. **"Let's just get this over with fast, okay? Even only armed with blunt weapons and told to stand by, I don't want to risk the minions killing anyone who tries and get in before the authorities wise up enough and simply shoot them all from a safe distance."**

"…wait, you mean that, they aren't going to move and defend themselves if they start being shot at?"

 **"Nope. Though a few of the smarter ones may remember to take cover when that happens."** commented the young Overlord as if it was the most normal thing in the world, ignoring Kayaba's deadpanning stare from behind his mask as they turned a corner, the sight of Rubber-band slamming his rubber chicken against the head of an unconscious security guard while his loyal steed mauled his shoe greeting them. **"Rubber-band, stop wasting time, we gotta hurry! Where are the Reds?!"**

"End of the corridor, my Overlord!" cheerfully (And evilly) informed the armored minion while stepping off the unconscious man, his dog happily following cue. "Hard closed door stopping us, so they trying to blow it up!"

"Wait, are you talking about the fifth basement's entrance? That door is made of double reinforced steel and protected by a triple security Password! Why would they think they can get through by using fire?!"

 **"The Reds philosophy is that they can solve any problem by using fire, Heathcliff."** calmly explained the Dark One as they headed towards their destination, which they could see the 2 red minions effectively attacking with endless fireballs. **"And if they can't…it means that they aren't using enough."**

"…I won't even bother trying to argue with that." resigned himself the scientist as they reached the minions, who stopped their useless attempts to bow at their Overlord. "Let's just get this over with…"

Imputing the code on the panel besides the smoking metallic door (And thanking his new 'evil gloves' were thick enough to not be affected by how hot it was), Kayaba walked inside the basement's main room, the hum of heavy machines greeting him together with the visage of the imposing machinery that formed the main SAO Servers…and that of a familiar bespectacled man in a suit, who was pressing his back against one of the machines and staring at the door with abject horror as 'Kirito' and the 3 minions entered behind the frozen man.

 **"…the hell?"** questioned the Dark One with confusion at the sight.

"…Sugou?" flatly came from the disguised scientist's mouth before his eyes widened at his mistake. "Shit!"

"Wait…that voice…Kayaba?!"

Sugou Nobuyuki had been having a stressful day, if 'positive', day. First, his long-time 'rival' apparently went insane and decided to throw away all his success and genius in favor of trapping people inside his virtual world for unknown reasons, killing hundreds and putting the lives of thousands more at risk, among which had been his young 'dear' fiancée, Yuuki Asuna.

He had, obviously, been one of the first people in rushing to Argus after receiving the news from his superior in RECT, Yuuki Shouzou, the aforementioned girl's father, as a 'concerned future member of the family trying to find a way to help his trapped fiancée'.

Of course, that his true objective was to try and take advantage of the situation in some way and also secure that Argus' Cardinal System, not to mention the custody of the SAO Servers, fell directly under his division of the company, was something that no one needed to know…

But then, again for no apparent reason, all the SAO Victims still alive had been released from the death game, and he had still been on his phone trying to call the Yuuki family and know exactly what was going on when some of the people in the floor he had been at gathered before a television screen with shocked eyes, the bespectacled man joining them in time to see how his old college rival was _executed_ by a madman dressed like some kind of evil villain from a cliché fantasy manga.

While he was probably one of the last persons on the planet that would feel bad at all from Kayaba's death, Sugou had still been left quite out of it after witnessing that bizarre and macabre 'spectacle', so he had been wandering around trying to make sense of the madness he had seen for a few minutes…when the building had shook, an explosion had been felt and the screams had started, so he had done the 'simplest' thing and gotten inside what he assumed would be the safest part of the floor, the room where the SAO Servers were hidden, using the codes he had 'borrowed' from one of the computers earlier during the commotion.

What he really _wasn't_ expecting was for the door to suddenly start being rammed by what sounded like small bombs and then his supposedly dead 'colleague' to enter the room dressed like some evil wizard (So well-covered that he wouldn't have recognized him if it wasn't for his voice), followed by the aforementioned 'Overlord'.

He was still trying to process what was going on when the Dark One's hand suddenly pointed at him and unleashed what seemed like blue lighting against his head, making him feel as if his brain was being boiled…and then no…thinngggg…

"What the hell?!" shouted Kayaba as he saw the most annoying man he had ever known fall to his knees with an empty expression, his eyes glazed and a little drool falling from the side of his mouth as Kazuto's weird magic finally stopped. "Why did you do that?!"

 **"He recognized you a-and I panicked, okay?!"** replied the young Overlord with a small hysteric edge on his voice. **"Be-besides, I didn't kill him, I just broke his will with my Evil Presence spell and turned him into a puppet that will do my biding…he had a will even easier to break than a Minion's, by the way."**

"…oh, just that, I see. I don't know why I was even worried." groaned the scientist while resisting the need of pointing out the messed up morals of the black-haired boy, reminding himself that he HAD accepted being in a position where he basically served him.

 **"I'm sorry…was he a friend of yours? Because he's now going to be kind of brain-dead for the rest of his life…"** muttered Kazuto while the bespectacled man stood up again and walked closer to them, still with the same stupid expression on his face.

"He was an acquaintance from back when I went to college at best, even if we kind of worked in the same place during those times…huh, that reminds me I haven't even called Shigemura-sensei in over a year…I wonder how he and his daughter are doing…?"

 **"Yeah, Kayaba, I'm sure that your old teacher must be _thrilled_ with you after what you did today."** sarcastically commented the Dark One before walking towards the central Server, caressing the symbol which read 'SAO' on its side. **"Okay, let's not waste any more time and get this back to the Netherworld."**

"…and how exactly are we going to do that, now that I think about it?" questioned the masked man with worry, looking from the massive servers to the closed door. "The machinery here was mounted piece by piece and not meant to be taken out assembled, so there isn't really any way to take it outs…"

 **"Flamethrower!"**

Outside, police officers were busy screaming for people to get out of the area while a few of them aimed against the minions covering behind Argus' front yard's gates (5 of them lying dead on the floor with bullet holes all over them) when a roaring explosion of fire emerged upwards and slightly angled from within the company's building, the fire soaring high into the air before the open-mouthed humans while the devilish creatures cheered madly.

The Overlord and his strange 'henchman' emerged from within the gaping and smoking hole going all the way to Argus' 3rd basement floor, the forming barking orders towards his servants while the latter (Who was being half-carried/half-dragged by his master and the two happy-looking Reds) stared dumbfounded from the Dark One to the massive 'scar' in his old workplace.

 **"Minions, a dozen of you go down and take our objective back to the Gate! Rubber-band is standing just beside it!"** shouted Kazuto while his hands glowed with a 'Halo' spell, the 12 minions that rushed past him glowing as their strength and resistance were enhanced. **"The rest, grab whatever you can and throw it back at those humans as distractions!"**

The police was just starting to come out of their shock from what they had witnessed when they found themselves being bombarded by rocks, pieces of still smoking debris and, in one case, the corpse of one of the dead minions, which crashed against a particular officer and made him scream and faint on the spot, shooting back being now the last thing on their minds as they desperately tried to take cover, the Browns evil laughter filling the air.

"…I know you told me about your 'evil magic'…but holy shit, that was…terrifying."

 **"Really? I was actually holding back to not damage the place too much…"** muttered the young Overlord while looking back into the hole, ignoring Kayaba's scared/shocked stare. **"Ah, here they come."**

"Wait, what?" asked the scientist while coming out of his shock, just to enter it again on a whole new level as he saw the Minions jumping out of the hole while carrying the massive (Especially compared to them) bulk of SAO's main server. "Ju-just how strong are those things?!"

 **"Their strength when working together is inversely proportional to their stupidity."** commented Kazuto while the man followed after the group as they moved the massive server in the glowing energy of the Netherworld Gate, grimacing slightly at the view of the countless cables they have needed to 'cut' for that. **"Is this good enough?"**

"More or less…we will need replacements for the cables, but that shouldn't be too difficult." muttered Kayaba as he saw the Minions and the Main Server vanish within the eldritch light of the Gate. "Now we just need to get the secondary servers and…"

 **"Holy sh…! Heathcliff, MOVE!"**

"Wha…?!"

The next thing the scientist-turned-evil-henchman knew he had been thrown painfully through the air, his body going through the Netherworld Gate just as the sound and blast of an explosion started to consume the world around him…

…and then he was rolling through the cold ground of the Throne Room, the Browns that had just finished putting down the server's hardware containing the Cardinal System, the mainframe of Aincrad and its main subroutines staring at him with shock.

"What just happened?!" demanded Gnarl while rushing to the man's side as he shakily stood up. "Where is the Overlord?!"

"There was…an explosion…?" confusedly muttered Kayaba while trying to stop his head from ringing.

"Ma-master Gnarl, we just lost the Gate our Overlord was using!" shouted a panicking Blue while looking at them in fear, both Minion Master and scientist looking at him in shock. "Wha-what do we do?!"

Back in the building of Argus' company, Kazuto cursed endlessly in his mind while standing up, quickly unleashing a wave of eldritch power to throw the remains of the destroyed Netherworld Gate as an improvised last 'distraction' attack, half-panicking and half-growling at seeing only 2 stunned Browns remained from those that had still been there, both Reds lying not far from him with what remained of their heads having been destroyed by shrapnel, even the Blue one having been crushed by a piece of the Gate.

 **"Get back inside!"** barked the young Overlord before doing so himself, not stopping to see if his remaining minions did so while his mind raced. **_"Where the fuck did the police get a grenade so fast?!"_**

Outside the building, the street looked like a small war zone while the officers still hiding from the latest 'rain of death' tried to decide if it was finally safe to get out of cover or not.

Near the back of the group, standing behind a car that had been half-crushed by one of the broken spires of the Netherworld Gate, a female officer stared at his partner in disbelief, the man taking deep breaths and shaking like a leaf.

"A-and you said that carrying that good-luck-grenade of mine around was a stupid idea, e-eh, Hikari…?"

"Why would you do that, you idiot?! What if the explosion killed us or someone inside?!"

"W-we were fighting hordes of monsters that take several bullets to take down led by a freaking Overlord of all things! I-I think my action was justified!"

Ignorant of the convenient plot-advancing events taking place outside, Kazuto had finally returned to the basement's room where the SAO Servers were located, the 2 remaining Minions from outside slightly behind him while Rubber-band rushed to his side, atop the worried-looking form of Not-Wolfy.

"Overlord! What do we do?!"

 **"First, making sure to cut our losses!"** replied the Dark One before unleashing a wave of evil lighting from his sword, frying all the secondary servers remaining in the room, a few of them even exploding. " **Now, we need an actual escape plan to a place where we can call for another Gate…wait a moment, you, Sugewo or whatever!"**

"Mugyh…?" asked the mind-broken man while turning towards his master.

 **"…did you come in a car?"**

Emergency services were finally being called in and requests for reinforcements were being demanded in droves as several officers entered warily on the destroyed front yard (Guns raised and pointed forward) when the sound of screaming wheels caught many off guard, a business car speeding out of the company's underground parking lot and speeding away through the street, with two minions looking out of one of the rear windows and making obscene gestures with their fingers to the officers…and a dog with his tongue out just feeling the wind through the other.

Everyone blinked and STARED at the retreating vehicle, as if trying to process what they had just seen.

"We did it, Overlord!" cheered Rubber-band from the backseat as he caressed his dog's back, his fellow minions still busy making weird faces and giving the middle fingers to everyone they passed. "We got away with your master plan!"

 **"I'm just glad this guy still had enough left of his mind to drive, because I sure as hell don't know how!"** shouted Kazuto for answer as he held into his seat for dear life, his armor and mantle making that slightly difficult, while Sugou drove the car with that stupid expression still on his face. **"Now we just need to get away from populated areas and find an area with enough raw earth to…"**

The sound of several police sirens interrupted the young Overlord, making him curse as he saw several cars giving chase while his minions started shouting insults at them, only to duck back inside the car as gunfire answered them.

"Overlord! Troubles!"

 **"Yeah, seems like we have been declared as a 'Shoot first, ask later'-kind of objective…Fucking great."** cursed the Dark One before glaring at Sugou as he opened his window. **"Keep driving as if your life depends on it! I will distract them!"**

"Blow them all up with your magic, master!" cheered one of the minions as the boy turned around and got one hand out of the window, aiming towards the incoming cars.

 **"Eh, I'm low on mana right now, so I will have to settle for something simpler…"** lied Kazuto with some nervousness, as he still had most of his evil magical energy left, but had no intention of just blowing up all the police officers doing their job of trying to stop him. **"Let's just go with a simple…there! Fireball!"**

A watermelon-sized orb of fire answered the young Overlord's car and shot out of his hand, flying straight towards a nearby lamppost and burning through its base, letting it fall down…and crush the front of one of their pursuing cars, making it crash and most of the ones behind to follow cue against the polo or the first vehicle.

"…awesome, Overlord!" congratulated him Rubber-band while the boy just gulped, slightly pale under his helmet at the way more destructive consequences of his attack than he had planned.

 **"Ye-yes, of course, I totally planned that o…"**

"Trees!" screamed one of the minions while looking forward with wide eyes, making Kazuto spin around just as screams from scared people filled the air, the young Overlord's own eyes widening.

 **"FU…!"**

Today had been an especially bad day for Ayano Keiko. Then again, when you were 12-years-old, got trapped inside a virtual reality game where you could die for real, were told you wouldn't be able to escape until you completed said game, then got released without warning while you were in the middle of having an emotional breakdown on a street, would probably do that to anyone.

Because she had woken up and almost had a panic attack as she was being transported to the hospital, like way too many people in the whole country, she had just been released a few minutes ago, so she had decided to go out into the hospital's gardens to try and get some fresh air. At her side, her cat Pina (Which her mother and father had brought with them to 'cheer her up' as soon as they knew she was awake) stared at her with feline curiosity while rubbing himself against her leg, making the twin-tailed girl smile and caress him.

Her mother had just come back inside to see if her father would take much longer finishing the paperwork of her release (Then again, given the sheer amount of people having similar problems because of the SAO incident, it wasn't that surprising) after telling her not to move from there, so right now she was alone with her pet. Honestly, the only thing she wanted was to get back home, have a nice dinner and then go to bed and forget this day ever happe…

 **"…CK!"**

The end of a word that her young ears probably weren't meant to hear and the scream of tires trying uselessly to stop was all the warning Keiko had before Pina all but jumped from her side, the young girl feeling as if the world slowed down as she turned to the side in time to see other people running and screaming as a car careened in her direction, only one of the few tall trees adorning the garden between her and the out-of-control vehicle.

An unholy glow surrounded the car in the last second, making it half-crash into the tree and take the poor thing down as it half-crumpled, half went flying in her direction, Keiko screaming in terror as she threw herself to the ground, the vehicle flying over where her head had been a moment before and crashing upside down several meters ahead, catching fire as it came to a stop several meters away.

Tears filling her eyes, the trembling girl was just starting to try and get up, unable to believe how lucky she had been, when the sound of wood breaking made her look up, feeling something inside her breaking at the sheer misfortune of the tree falling apart towards her.

Meanwhile, Kazuto groaned as he got out of the destroyed car, cursing everything under the sky that he had been foolish enough to think the mind-broken man would be able to drive them safely with him not paying attention to the road, before his eyes widened at seeing the tree they had hit earlier (And that would have been their end if he hadn't used his power to reinforce the car at the last second) falling atop a frozen little girl.

Behind him, the car with his minions and the half-dead slave that was Sugou Nobuyuki had caught fire. If he didn't do something, they would probably die. He had to choose between helping them or the little girl.

It was an easy choice, really.

Closing her eyes as she screamed, Ayano Keiko prayed that at least the end would be swift…and then opened them in shock when the sound of wood breaking and crashing was felt around her instead of crushing her, and stared open-mouthed to a sight that, years later, she would recount fondly as the moment that changed her entire life.

A tall and sinister figure in an armor blacker than the night, a white mantle hanging from his back, his armored hand raised as a shimmering shield of black energy protected them by 'absorbing' all the falling piece of the broken tree…and then sending most of them flying away like bullets, which embedded themselves on the ground or into the incoming police cars that had started coming their way, forcing them to stop.

Quickly, the Dark One turned towards her, Keiko feeling her heart stopping in fright upon being confronted by those glowing golden eyes.

 **"Are you okay?!"**

"…uh?" was all that the young girl could say, even as Pina quickly rushed to her side and did his best to seem 'intimidating' before the young Overlord.

Barking, Not-Wolfy chose that moment to emerge from the wrecked car, dragging his rider with him and quickly getting away just as it exploded, making the confused SAO survivor scream again.

"O-Overlord…we're…alive!" croaked Rubber-band while Kazuto stared from him to the burning wreck that had been his escape vehicle, and also most likely Sugou Nobuyuki's grave…not that he especially cared right then.

 **"Gnarl, send us a Gate, now!"** screamed the Dark One to the heavens before once again turning to the trembling Keiko, who recoiled as he leaned over her. **"Hey, calm down, okay? You're going to be just fi…!"**

"OPEN FIRE!"

The young Overlord almost felt his heart stopping at hearing those words, his head whipping around in time to raise another Shock Shield by instinct at seeing like half a dozen policemen opening fire upon him (Clearly not having seen the little girl and her cat because of his armored form and the fallen half-tree covering them), the bullets quickly ricocheting everywhere as he cursed for the umpteenth time that day, even more when he felt the shaking girl grip his leg in terror at the rain of bullets.

 **"Wa-wait a minute, you idiots!"** roared Kazuto while grabbing Keiko by the shoulder and bringing her up to his level with a squeak, the ones shooting at him freezing at the sight. **"There is an innocent…!"**

"Oh my god, he has taken a little girl hostage!"

"What a monster!"

"Stop shooting, he will use her as a living shield!"

The young Overlord didn't even have time to refute those crazy claims before the ground shook all around them and a new Netherworld Gate emerged, his eyes widening while a new set of shocked screams filled the air at the sight.

Freedom was just within his reach! Now he only needed to…!

"Don't let him get into that thing!" came a mechanical-sounding voice through a megaphone, all gazes moving to see a Special Forces' vehicle speeding towards the site. "I repeat, all police agents, keep shooting, but don't let the target escape!"

In that instant, the Overlord known as 'Kirito' realized he had to act fast and without thinking if he wanted to take advantage of the clear hesitation of the agents around him.

Sadly, the decision was taken entirely out of his hands by Rubber-band rushing past him while screaming and swinging his rubber chicken, Not-Wolfy howling in fear for his partner as he had been ordered to stay behind.

"Overlord, run with hostage! I distract humies!" screamed the armored minion as he was welcomed by a rain of bullets.

Acting almost in auto-pilot, Kazuto cast a Halo Spell with all his power towards the suicidal creature, not taking into account he was holding something else with that same hand, who gasped in shock at feeling the evil magic cursing through her body before shooting at Rubber-band.

Then, he ran towards the Gate as if his life depended on it (Barely aware of something jumping and clawing at his mantle as he did so), idly hearing Keiko whimper when the sound of the bullets piercing through his last remaining minion reached them, Not-Wolfy rushing after his Overlord in sadness as they reached the eldritch light and vanished within.

Not even a second later, the gate sank under the earth once again, no amount of shouting coming from the special vehicle or the police officers being able to stop it. Any attempts later at 'excavating' the site would be met by nothing but dirt.

Back in the Netherworld Tower, though…Overlord Kirito stood up, the minions that had come around him stepping back and Gnarl and Kayaba falling silent before even starting to ask for his state, even as the Dark One unsheathed his blade and dramatically raised it to the ceiling.

 **"VICTORY!"**

At his shout, the minions exploded into evil cheers, all of them celebrating the 'success' of their 'evil operation', even as Kazuto inwardly sighed in relief, glad to have remembered he couldn't afford to show any weakness in front of his 'subordinates' and gotten back 'in character' just in time…

"Splendid work, my lord! You managed to pull off that mission perfectly despite the unexpected actions of our pathetic enemies!" preened Gnarl while walking to his master's side. "And you even brought a toy back for the minions!"

For the second time in the last minutes, the black-haired boy's mind froze at hearing those words. What did he mean by…?

"Ahahah, little humie and pet look tasty! Maybe we should cook them?!" eagerly asked a Brown while he and several others surrounded the small and shaking figure that their Overlord had unconsciously dragged with him under Kayaba's more than disturbed gaze, her cat hissing at the devilish creatures in a vain attempt to protect his owner.

Whimpering in fright, Ayano Keiko could do nothing but held Pina close to her for dear life, her eyes shooting from the dark and sinister place in which she had suddenly found herself to the countless demonic creatures that surrounded her, horror confusing her fear and about to make her explode as she saw one of them coming closer to her with a hungry look on his horrible face…

"Noooooo!" screamed the young girl while closing her eyes, tears spilling from them as her hands shot out, grasped the minion's arm and, under the shocked stares of everyone, flung him over her head and slammed him against the ground, several times. "Don't hurt meeeeee, bwaaaah…!"

"Wha-what…?!"

"Strong! Little humie strong! Stronger than minion?!"

"E-evil power! She reeks of evil power! How?"

"Overlord's magic fills her?!"

"Why is…?!"

 **"Shut up, all of you!"** boomed Kazuto's voice as he walked through the scared minions surrounding the now crying girl and ignoring the hissing form of the cat beside her. **"This is a, ehm, valuable hostage of mine, you hear?! I'm now taking her to my private chambers, wait for me here while I 'fix' some things with her!"**

Not giving the creatures any time to answer or react, and pointing ignoring Kayaba's _'Kidnapping a little girl?! Seriously?!'_ -stare, the young Overlord grabbed the crying girl's hand and dragged her up the stairs behind the Throne Room, uncaring of the cat quickly following them.

As soon as they arrived at his room, the Dark One let the girl go and turned around to seal the door with his dark magic, sighing deeply before turning around towards the terrified and tear-stained face of the young girl.

 **"Hey, don't be scared, okay? I-I'm not going to hurt you…"** promised the black-haired boy as he quickly took off his helmet, shock filling the pre-teen's eyes when she saw the effeminate face of a boy just a couple years older than her and normal-looking black eyes under the terrifying helmet. "Uhm…d-do you want candy or something?"

"…I'm 12, not 6." deadpanned Keiko while barely containing something between a chuckle and a sob. "A-and one of the first things your parents teach you is to not accept candy from strangers…"

"…you're right, that was dumb of me. Sorry, I just…this is a new experience for me. Talking with…someone I accidentally kidnapped." muttered the young Overlord while deciding it was also best not to point out it was the first time he talked with anyone 'normal' close to his age in over 4 years. "Let's try this again…I'm Kirigaya Kazuto, and I'm not going to hurt you."

"…my…my name is Ayano Keiko, Kazuto-san." muttered the young girl while hugging her cat, who had been looking from her to the boy with confusion and worry. "Yo-you saved me back there, s-so I believe you…ca-can I go back home now?"

"I…fear that's not going to be so easy." grimaced Kazuto with regret, feeling a painful pang in his heart at seeing her face morph into a look of fear and confusion. "N-no, Keiko-chan, let me explain!"

For the next minutes, Keiko was gifted with one of the craziest and most complex stories she had ever heard, filled also with several violent scenes and curses that her parents would have never let her hear.

"Tha-that's…woah." simply muttered the young girl as she sat beside the tired-looking boy, both of them on his couch. "…you have had a rough life, Kazuto-san…"

"Tell me about it." groaned the young Overlord before looking towards his 'hostage' with a pleading gaze. "Do you get now, why I can't just let you go? I can't risk losing control of the minions if they think I'm doing 'good' things like releasing a hostage, they would kill you and your family for sure if that happened, not to mention the untold damage they could cause without anyone controlling them…"

"Bu-but, wo-won't I simply be locked away or killed if I stay here too?!" asked Keiko with teary eyes, quickly throwing herself on Kazuto's side, the boy stiffening and unsure of how to react at the unexpected contact as she buried her face on his mantle. "I-I don't want that, Kazuto-san…"

"…i-it's okay, I…there IS a way to ensure that _doesn't_ happen to you long enough for me to come up with a way of getting you out of here, I think." revealed the young Overlord with an unsure tone, the young girl's face suddenly filled with hope as she looked up at him. "It…may take some time, though, and you would have to 'play along' with what I say, not to mention that you will probably have to do some things around here to keep suspicions off you…"

"E-even so, is there really a way?!" half-asked/half-pleaded her while gripping his mantle, Pina purring behind his owner. "I-I will do anything if it keeps me, you and my parents safe, Kazuto-san! What is this method?!"

Gulping, and feeling strangely shy all of a sudden, Kazuto told her. Keiko's brain froze.

A couple minutes later, the minions still in the Throne Room, Gnarl and Kayaba turned to see the fully armored form of 'Overlord Kirito' coming back, the young girl from before walking at his side in a very robotic way, a trembling and very fake smile on her burning red face, caressing the cat in her hand almost compulsively.

 **"Gnarl, here is your new helper."** simply stated Kazuto while pointing at the unusually still Keiko. **"Treat her well."**

"Uhm…a helper, my lord?"

 **"Yeah, I mean, no offense to your great work, but extra hands making sure this place doesn't collapse upon itself would be appreciated…"**

"But…wasn't she a hostage? Why assign such a position to a slave?" questioned the Minion Master while narrowing his eyes.

 **"Because…that's just a temporary occupation until we're…old enough for her to assume her…tru-true role…"** as the words kept coming from his mouth, it would have been very obvious to anyone with enough common sense (Meaning only Kayaba and Keiko out of all the beings in the 'room') that the young Overlord was trying very hard to force himself into saying them. **"Everyone, thi-this is Ayano Keiko…my future mistress."**

At the unexpected words…all the Minions fell silent. Gnarl's eyes widened. Kayaba (Who had been inspecting the main SAO Server to make sure it wasn't damaged) choked on air.

Keiko made a small sound that seemed like something between a squeal and an embarrassed scream, her face turning even redder and her fake smile shaking again.

Then, the Throne Room exploded into cheers of the minions while they bowed to their new Mistress (In the other sense of the word), many rushing around to spread the news and others to celebrate by murdering rats or something

"…those are wonderful news, my Overlord!" congratulated the Hellspawn while walking to his master's said and looking proudly at him. "To think you would not only successfully complete your first mission with your training incomplete, but also get your first mistress on it, truly unprecedented! And I assume you want me to make sure she remains sharp and helpful with everything while she grows up enough to truly 'fulfill her purpose', eh?"

 **"Ye-yes, Gnarl, that's exactly it."** confirmed the black-haired boy while being very thankful for the fact that the helmet covered his by now scarlet face. **"Also, I may accidentally have overcharged her with a Halo spell which hasn't worn off yet, and I wanted you to take a look at that, because, as you know, that was meant to be used only with minions, so…"**

"Not a problem, my lord! I will make sure your woman is in perfect condition!" promised the Minion Master before turning towards the still extremely nervous young girl. "Keiko…sama, was it? Please, follow me; I will give you a tour of the tower's main facilities before showing you the private chambers where you will be staying."

Exchanging one last nervous look with Kazuto, whose eyes pleaded for her to play along, Keiko shakily nodded before tightening her grip on Pina once again and following after Gnarl, leaving a barely relieved Kazuto to resist the urge of rushing after her.

"…did you just made a 10-years-old you kidnapped your mistress?" flatly asked Kayaba once they were alone except for the random minions.

 **"She's 12, and I assure you this all has a perfect and logical explanation that I will give you later, Kayaba."** growled the young Overlord before walking to his side to stare at the massive frame of the Main SAO Server. **"Now please, tell me this operation was more successful than how I think it really went."**

"Well, we got the main server but we lost most of the cables and connectors when 'extracting' it. While that wouldn't be too difficult to replace…we also lost all the secondary Servers because of what happened…"

 **"Oh yeah, I made sure to destroy those just in case."**

"…there goes a lifetime of VR-development mankind will not be getting back anytime soon, but I'm not really in any position to complain." groaned the scientist before taking off his mask and lowering his hood, staring tiredly at the main server. "Going by what you assure me your minions can do and what I saw today, getting the formers shouldn't be too difficult, but…making up for the lost servers will take a while, especially in these conditions, even after re-activating Cardinal."

 **"It's…fine. Time is literally the thing we have the most of right now, I guess. I sure as hell am not doing another random raid to the surface anytime soon if it's not for a very important thing."** tiredly stated the black-haired boy before taking off his helmet. "Right now I just want to make sure Keiko-chan is okay and then faint on my bed until tomorrow…Anything else?"

"Well…we lost literally every minion that went with us." dryly commented the man while looking with some pity at Not-Wolfy, who had been silently sitting beside the Servers the whole time. "Then again, that doesn't seem to bother you or anyone here, so…"

"Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me, Kayaba." thanked Kazuto to the confused 'evil henchman' before turning towards the dog. "Not-Wolfy, come along! We gotta resurrect your partner…"

"Wait…what?" came out of Kayaba's mouth as he saw the dog eagerly following after the young Overlord. "Resu…rrect?"

"Ah, didn't I tell you? We got this 'river of souls' we simply call 'The Graveyard' down in the Minion Burrows where an old minion dressed like the Grim Reaper can bring back to life specific minions if I want to, in exchange for other minor souls." casually explained the black-haired boy as he and Not-Wolfy headed for the nearest 'floating platform'. "Never really used it much, but Rubber-band is probably the most useful of the bunch after Gnarl and always takes good care of his dog…not to mention the one that insists on using an extremely non-lethal (And stupid) weapon, so that's always appreciated."

"…yeah, sure, you just…casually go to throw out of the window all scientific and religious preconceptions about life and death." emptily commented the man as he turned around, once again to inspect no actual damage have been made to the Servers. "I will just…stay here with what makes sense and…wait a minute. Weren't 2 Greens with us when this all started?"

Back in the mess that was the hospital where the Overlord had 'escaped' the police, a bespectacled man in uniform, who had come in the special vehicle that ordered the agents to keep shooting earlier despite the hostage, watched the cordoned off area with worried eyes, his gaze lingering to the side where a crying woman was comforted by her husband as the police took them away, the parents of the kidnapped girl.

That was when the strange stench hit him, making him gag for a moment. What was that horrible smell?! It was something akin to rotten eggs and meat or…

"Lieutenant colonel Seijirou!" came a voice from the vehicle behind him. "Headquarters just called, we need to report back right now, sir."

"Sure, I'm going now." muttered the man before looking around one last time, eyes narrowed as he boarded the car.

On top of it, the grinning and invisible forms of the green minions exchanged a sinister chuckle as it drove away.

"Those Greens will be following their orders right now, Kayaba, so don't worry about them." finished Kazuto as he and the dog boarded the flying rock. "For now, let's just be grateful nothing else is getting in our way…"

* * *

It was past midnight in the Kirigaya household, and Kirigaya Suguha still couldn't sleep.

Of course, most people in her situation didn't change into their kendo hakama and started swinging a shinai until exhaustion in their family's dojo to see if that tired them enough to sleep, but then again, she wasn't like most people.

The bizarre events of the day that she had seen/read about on the internet were still ringing through her mind as she slid against the wall and sat down, looking at her bamboo sword with an unusually empty stare.

Kendo…didn't motivate her as much anymore. In fact, she could almost feel herself losing drive for the sport she had dedicated most of her life to with each passing day during the last years. Why, though, when she had apparently a lot of talent for it? Why would she…?

 _"Grandfather, stop! It's okay, I…I will practice hard enough for both of us, so please, don't hurt Onii-chan anymore!"_

…no, she knew very well why. It was because, in a bizarre way, the main reason for which she had started to practice it in such a way had abandoned them…abandoned her. The closest person she ever had in her life was gone.

Idly, her gaze moved towards the dojo's open doors, seeing the moon reflected on the pond outside. Inevitably, a shiver ran down her back as she remembered when she almost drowned there, years ago…and a smile quickly filled her face as she remembered him jumping inside and saving her life.

"Onii-chan…I miss you…" whispered the young kendoka with a small voice, a normal and seemingly unimportant statement in a world that, hours earlier, had apparently been turned upside down by impossible events. "Please, come back…"

The small plea echoed into the empty dojo…just a second before a shining ball of light crashed through the open doors and slammed into the wall beside Suguha's head, making the girl scream and turn around in fright, shinai raised to try and protect herself.

"(Ouch, ouch, ouch, dammit all…uh?)" suddenly, the strange 'ball of light' rose from where it had fallen, 'turning' towards the wide-eyed girl. "(Ah…THE OVERLORD IS BACK!)"

"…eh?" was all that the young kendoka could say, still staring dumbfounded towards _the glowing and talking ball of light._

"(This is no time for 'Eh?', young girl! The Overlord is back and, without any youkai or Gods around to stop him this time, the world will soon be completely at his mercy! As the last descendant of Kirigaya Kaneshiro, the last servant of Amaterasu-sama whose family still lives, still present on this land, it falls on you to throw away your…ehem, I mean, to heroically risk your life to stop him!)"

"Wha-what?! M-me, beating the Overlord?!" shouted Suguha while taking several steps back, wondering if she wasn't having some bizarre dream. "A-are you crazy?! That guy has hordes of monsters that follow him…a-and can shoot fire strong enough to blow through a building from his hands!"

"(Yeaaaah…it's not gonna be easy, downright impossible, really, but you know, beggars can't be choosers, it falls on you to be the legendary hero in the hopeless fight, sorry, sucks to be you.)" 'apologized' the spirit before floating around the disbelieving girl. "(Also, with some training and once we steal…cough, I mean, once we 'get back' the 3 Legendary Treasures, you will have at least a 30% chance of victory in a suicidal Final Fight if we get him before he has become too strong! You should be happy, most legendary heroes start with way worse odds!)"

"…I think…I'm going to sleep now…" nervously gulped the young kendoka before turning around and doing a mad dash for the door leading into the house.

"(…sigh, why do they always run? When Amaterasu-sama herself chose people they always took it as an honor…oh well, not my fault.)" shrugged the shining spirit before shooting faster than the eye could see and crashing against Suguha's back, the girl screaming before freezing in place, her eyes wide as a rainbow light seemed to fill them. "(Now then…this will only hurt excruciatingly during the first few minutes.)"

"…uh?" was the last thing that came out of Kirigaya Suguha's mouth before the pain hit.

Her screams were, somehow, drowned by the rainbow light filled with hope, kindness, bravery and everything that is good and sickening in the world that consumed the whole Kirigaya dojo.

And so, the gears of Fate finished screwing each other in the most bizarre path possible…

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Convenient plot-development, get XD!

Seriously, though, what would an Evil Overlord be without a foolish Hero, with seemingly no hope of winning against him and his forces, standing in his way? Nothing, I tell you! Nothing XP!

But well, with this the first 'arc' (?) of this weird idea is done! The Overlord has revealed himself, base objectives have been achieved, accidental kidnappings have happened and a 'mistress' has been obtained! There is no way anything can go wrong :P!

Okay then, now that I'm recovered and relaxed, I'm going back to write OPG:CoF, but I may still write this silly thing from time to time, who knows? Next time, whenever that is, we get the first important time-skip (It wouldn't be SAO story without some of those OwO), the Overlord gets…virtual 'minions'(?), evil plans for world domination are developed, Gnarl learns to use the internet, and the goal set is…to kidnap a 'princess'?! And, of course, the brave Hero of Justice appears to save the damsel in distress and oppose the Overlord! Don't miss it!

Until next time, this is Saint, signing off!


	4. Chapter 3: Hero of Justice!

Hey there everyone! How is it going? I bring you both another chapter of this silly madness as well as a small 'explanation' about things on my end lately!

See, last month was quite hectic for me: Not only did I have exams 2 consecutive weeks, my parents also decided to make a travel to Rome for over a week, leaving me with having to take care of my dog and the house meant for 4 people on my own for all of that time, while _still_ going to classes. All of that together, and my small selfishness of using most of the free time playing with my PS4 to relax, killed most of my writing time, which is why the next chapter of "One Punch-Gamer: Chains of Fate" has been delayed. I'm still working on it, but it will take a while yet in being done, so I decided to quickly put together this in a couple nights of silly fun to both vent and tell this to all of you who read that story and are waiting for the next chapter. Sorry again.

Anyway, that aside, hope you can turn off your brains and enjoy some mindless evil fun again in the meantime! Also, in case it wasn't obvious for those who don't bother paying attention the dates I write, there is a relatively big time skip between the end of last chapter and the beginning of this one :P So, without more delay, enjoy!

 **Disclaimer:** Neither SAO nor Overlord belong to me. I'm just mixing the characters and plots for fun because I'm weird like that.

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Unwilling Hero of Justice!**

 **August 18th, 2023. Netherworld Tower, Netherworld. Lower Levels, 21:20…**

Eyebrows furrowed in utmost concentration as he connected two cables into a panel (Poorly) embedded on the black rock wall, the man on the dark robes took a deep breath and, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth, triggered the many switches on it.

After several seconds of silence…the dark hallway was illuminated by eerie light, strange glowing crystals (Which for some reason had several electric cables 'impaling' them) on the corners coming to life and humming with power.

"Section H-9 has been successfully powered up and connected to the network, Kayaba-sama." came a soft and emotionless voice from one of the crystals. "Congratulations, as of right now, the entire Netherworld Tower is under Cardinal's techno-magical supervision."

"Thanks, Yui…even if the word 'techno-magic' still makes me cringe, and that after almost 10 months down here…" muttered the creator of SAO while shaking his head and looking towards the nearest crystal. "Also, knowing that there like a 50/50 chance of it all exploding horribly every time we make the connections doesn't really help."

As he finished the words, the glow on the crystal grew in intensity before the 'holographic' (Though technically it was 'techno-magically projected') form of a little girl with long black hair, white dress, and empty eyes appeared before it, staring at Kayaba with an empty expression.

"Technically, the percentage was reduced to a little below 40% during the last stages of the installations, Kayaba-sama. Cardinal has adapted well to this."

"Sigh, of course it has…that's what her main ability was designed for when I created it, learn and self-upgrade…'adapt'…though I never thought it would adapt by using some bizarre and unholy combination of technology and evil magic on a hanging inverted tower of doom buried beneath the earth." sighed the scientist before looking down at his hands, covered in dark and unnaturally skintight gloves that shone with eldritch runes. "…Yui, you were created to analyze, understand and judge human psyche in general, so please tell me: What do you think of the moral implications of us working under an 'evil' Overlord?"

"My opinion on all this is irrelevant, Kayaba-sama, as I know you can simply lock me away or delete me through Cardinal if I don't obey." firmly stated Yui, her emotionless voice somehow turning a tad colder. "If you want my honest opinion, though, I think that you are the _last_ person on the face of Earth that has any right to talk about the moral implications of things."

Kayaba had to suppress a shudder when he could almost _feel_ the hidden disgust and annoyance behind the AI's words. Even after 8 months, it seemed that the surprisingly human-like girl still hadn't completely 'forgiven' him for sealing her away within SAO, unable to fulfill her purpose and only watch as the players despaired…even if it had been just for a couple hours.

He blamed it on the fact that the only 'people' she could now watch over and 'learn' from were the fucking minions, Gnarl and the other 2 humans that lived in the Netherworld.

And speaking of the Devil…

"Ah, Heathcliff-san…I see you finally finished with the last part of the tower…Oh, and hi there, Yui-chan!"

"Good afternoon, Silica-sama."

"…ye-yeah…same here, Silica…sama." muttered the scientist while turning around to stare at who, even if it wasn't the Devil, could be maybe called his 'Mistress'.

Ayano Keiko smiled at Yui's projected form, almost seeming to ignore his presence. The young girl had changed quite a bit, more in demeanor than appearance, but both were certainly noticeable: She now wore an expensive-looking blood-red dress, short enough to not be a hinder to her movements, with exquisite and otherworldly designs on it, not to mention that the decorations keeping her twin-tails in place were now two sinister skulls carved out of actual ivory of all things and she was wearing gleaming black sandals which, the man knew, were enchanted to keep her feet warm.

There was also the fact that she was much chirpier compared to the scared little girl that had been kidnapped almost 10 months ago, not to mention that she had grown slightly, though it was barely noticeable, even if the Overlord's 'mistress' seemed quite proud of it. The whole 'Silica' thing came from the fact that, after hearing their 'master' used that name in public and with the minions in general to 'inspire more respect' than his real one, she had decided to do the same. And curiously enough, that name was the same one she had used during her brief imprisonment within Sword Art Online.

She hadn't been really pleased to know he was Kayaba Akihiko, the one responsible for the worst hours of her life and the death of over 200 other players, among which she could have found herself. Not to mention being indirectly responsible for her ending up in the Netherworld, given that she would have never been in that hospital that evening if not for SAO.

Consequentially, that had only made her adoration (Because the scientist saw no other way to call it) for Kazuto grow after it was revealed that the Overlord truly had been to one to stop him and then 'turn him into his servant' all for the sake of 'no one being eviler than him'.

Of course, given that Keiko already knew the truth behind the boy, she had seen the reality of it all right away, and had engulfed him in a thankful hug, much to his utter confusion.

And since then…well, things had been quite hectic down there. Sure, no more dangerous raids or attacks to the surface had been made, but, after a few weeks of letting things 'cool down', the Minions had still been sent in very small groups to get the cables Kayaba needed to get the main SAO Server, and as such the Cardinal System, up and running again.

When that had been done, things had gotten…quite bizarre, to say the least, when the local Overlord suggested they could try and use it to improve their crazy 'techno-magic'. Despite his initial reticence about dealing with the concept that seemed like an insult to what he had dedicated most of his life working on (And his obvious dislike of anything straight out 'magical', as SAO's setting should have made obvious), the man had gone along with it because he couldn't exactly 'deny' his 'master'…and it had worked.

Sure, there were a couple problems at first, several minions electrocuted to death when installing wires, a couple that exploded when setting the first 'evil' crystals, and a moment when he feared Cardinal had broken down when countless screens he couldn't understand popped up after they first connected it to the aforementioned magical batteries.

But in the end, somehow, everything had turned out fine. Cardinal had managed to adapt to the crazy and unholy mix between evil magic and technology and started to work through and around it, Yui's 'projection' right now being one of the simplest examples.

And, as of that moment, the whole Netherworld Tower was 'connected' to Cardinal's ever-growing techno-magical power.

Honestly, Kayaba wasn't sure if he should feel very proud or utterly terrified of that fact.

"…I just got a call from the Throne Room." suddenly informed Yui after looking to the side with a moment, her expressionless face almost imperceptibly brightening up. "Overlord-sama is calling us."

"Then we should be there right away!" happily declared Keiko before raising a hand towards the virtual girl. "Yui-chan, teleport us to the Throne Room!"

"Affirmative, Silica-sama."

"What?! N-no, wait a…!"

The man's warning fell on deaf ears as beams of eldritch powers shot from the evil crystals, hitting both humans and leaving nothing but a soft smell of ozone in the area.

Not even a second later, both figures reappeared in the middle of the Throne Room, Keiko sporting a bright smile and Kayaba in his knees, gasping in fear as he patted himself like crazy, letting out a relieved sigh when he found himself complete.

"A-ah…are you out of your mind?! We still haven't perfected that function, it still had a 50% chance of failure! W-we could have ended up lost in the limbo, or disintegrated, o-or…!"

"Actually, Kayaba, Cardinal managed to reduce it to a 0,576% overnight." calmly corrected him a familiar voice, making both man and young girl look towards the Black Throne that towered slightly over them, one with disbelief and the other with admiration in their gazes. "We lost like 3 dozen minions, but it was worth it."

"And, of course, I was informed of that first thing in the morning, Heathcliff-san, which is why I gave the order." kindly replied the twin-tailed girl before rushing happily towards the throne, hugging the black-robed figure sitting there. "Good morning again, Kirito-sama!"

"Same to you, Ke…I mean, Silica." replied Kazuto with a small smile before the young girl dutifully let go of him and 'bowed', idly greeting some of the passing Minions that noticed her presence. "So, I take it everything is finally done?"

"Affirmative, Overlord-sama." informed Yui while materializing on the center of the room, the magical projection operating a couple of holo-screens from within the Server. "The entire tower is under Cardinal's supervision now; we have view of every single corner and a direct connection for communication, vigilance, teleportation, and ambient-control of them."

"Beyond excellent!" came Gnarl's voice as the Hellspawn walked into the room, his tone full of evil joy. "That means we have finally achieved the objectives we set out to do back when we got Heathcliff to join us!"

"Hi there, Gnarl-sensei!" greeted him Keiko with her usual smile, the Minion Master nodding in return to his Master's mistress and, also, his 'helper'.

"Yeah, well, it would have been way faster if we hadn't lost the secondary servers back then." mumbled Kayaba while crossing his arms. "At least we didn't lose anything important when we lost those…"

"Except for the data codes and encryptions needed to properly activate the others MHCPs, you mean." spoke Yui while staring directly at him, her emotionless demeanor once again turning somehow ice cold as she glared at her creator.

"…except for those, of course."

"Once again, I'm deeply sorry for your loss, Yui-chan." muttered the young Overlord with a sad tone…before quickly adding something else upon seeing Gnarl's raised eyebrow. "Be-because your, uhm, sisters would have been a great help for our plans!"

"There is no need for you to apologize, Overlord-sama, there was no way you could have known when my _dear creator_ didn't even tell you about ME to begin with, and would probably have forgotten if Cardinal hadn't asked your malevolence what you wanted to do with me." calmly commented Yui while ignoring the Hellspawn's satisfied nod at their master's correction. "Serving your evil cause is my only purpose now that my original one went to hell, but I will still endeavor to find a way for restoring my fellow MHCPs…as long as it doesn't interfere with your plans, of course."

"And you have my sinister blessing to do so, Yui-chan…all for the sake of my evil plans, of course!" quickly finished Kazuto while standing up and patting the magical projection's head, Yui seeming to make a visible effort to keep her impassive face and not _preen_ happily at the gesture.

"…I don't get it. What he 'does', and is supposed to be, goes against everything she was originally programmed for…why does she hate me while to him acts as if he was her father or something?" mumbled Kayaba with a suffering mix of confusion and scientific curiosity.

"Do you want me to honestly answer honestly why Kirito-sama is a better parental figure in her eyes, Heathcliff-san, or just continuing to smile at you this way will suffice?" questioned Keiko with a 'sweet smile' that sent shivers down the man's back.

"Ah, Silica-sama, I'm so proud of how well you have learned about the Ways of Evil!" praised Gnarl towards the twin-tailed girl, before rubbing his chin in thought. "Which reminds me, I could use your help again today in doing something on that Internet-thing…Overlord, mind if I use your computer again?"

"I grant you permission to do so, Gnarl." 'magnanimously' declared the young Overlord while subtly making a gesture for Keiko to keep an eye on the Minion Master, his 'mistress' returning it happily before skipping away after the creature, leaving him alone with Kayaba. "…man, I'm so glad Keiko-chan has adapted so well to keeping up this act."

"Yeah, very well…maybe too well." muttered the scientist while giving the boy a meaningful look.

"I know, right? You don't know how relieved that made me!" cheerfully replied the black-haired boy, totally missing the meaning behind the man's look. "I mean, sure, she was very awkward at first, and she was even so scared sometimes I let her sleep on my bed while she cuddled me out of fear, but she adapted to everything from the 'evil names' to the Minions very fast after that! She also started to learn a lot of things from Gnarl without problems, and keeping everything around here from collapsing almost as good as he does…hell, some days even I actually believe she enjoys being here as much as she pretends! I'm really going to miss her when we manage to get her back home…"

"…Ka…uhm, Kirito-sama?" questioned the scientist while eyeing the minions coming and going through the Throne Room. "Have you ever heard the term 'Stockholm Syndrome'?"

"Uhm…no. Should I have?"

For a moment, Kayaba opened his mouth, very tempted to give an answer, before realizing how Yui (Who had still been there the whole time) was staring at them with her 'emotionless' face and showing clearly no intent to correct the, in the current situation, critical lack of psychological understanding, which went, once again, against the very basics of her programming. The implications of which terrified him.

"…no, it's not really important, my Overlord." decided to say the man while suppressing a defeated groan.

After all, as everyone kept fucking telling him, he wasn't really anyone to talk about moral implications, right?

"Well, now all that we need to do is figure out the next step in our 'World Domination Plan'." sighed Kazuto before crossing his fingers. "We have Cardinal now, but how do we use it in a way that, you know, doesn't cause country-wide destruction, kills lots of innocent people, but still is 'evil'?"

"Are you asking me just because I'm supposed to be the smarter one?" barely suppressing the need to ask for an aspirin, SAO's creator simply shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you about how half-ass the use of our resources for evil, to be honest. You may have better luck looking for ideas on TV than…"

The man's words were interrupted by the Throne Room's 'magical television' being turned on, channels quickly being changed as if someone was making an inhumanly fast zapping.

"…now that's oddly convenient." mused the young Overlord with a raised eyebrow, even as Kayaba turned to look at Yui with a questioning face.

All he received for answer was a cold look and the MHCP pointing with a finger towards the ceiling, making his eyes widen and a groan to escape his mouth.

"I didn't mean that _literally_ , Cardinal." complained the scientist while shaking his head. "Just turn off the damn television and…"

 _"…finals of the Middle-School Division's Kendo Nationals…"_

"Wait! Back up!" shouted Kazuto while standing up, surprising both Kayaba and Yui at his unusually sharp tone, several minions stopping to stare in surprise too. "That channel of before, put it back on!"

Cardinal apparently understood perfectly what its Overlord was referring to, for it had no trouble putting once again the televised match onscreen, the form of two young figured fully clad in kendo equipment and protection, shinai held tightly on their hands while the multitude watching them did its best to keep silent, hushed whispers echoing everywhere.

"Kirito-sama, we're back! You won't believe what Gnarl-sensei…what are you watching?" interrupted Keiko just as she and the Minion Master came back into the room, her curious gaze fixed upon the screen.

"Kendo Nationals. We just happened to stumble across it." explained the young Overlord as the two people he could say were the closest to him in the world (For good or bad) walked near him and Kayaba. "I…used to practice, when I was young. Not for long and I didn't really like it that much, but…I guess it brought back memories…"

"Ah, yes, the sport people of this land practice nowadays in a pale attempt to keep their long-decaying culture of the sword alive." commented Gnarl with a shake of his head while watching the screen, earning a raised eyebrow from the two Japanese present that hadn't lived almost 5 years with him. "I mean, sure, back then when my previous lord arrived at this land and waged war against the armies of back then, your samurai weren't half-bad, especially those backed up by your Gods' blessings, but nowadays is all bamboo and wooden swords almost all the time and most of your traditions of honor and of stabbing yourselves in the good if you screwed up (Which was hella funny to see, by the way) is all but gone. Such a shame too…"

"Is…amazing, to see your interpretations of our country's old culture, Gnarl." deadpanned Kayaba while rubbing his forehead.

"Why, thank you, Heathcliff…though I got to admit, that human there isn't half-bad with that toy-weapon." conceded the Hellspawn while staring fixedly at the screen, the scientist just noticing Keiko and Kazuto were also doing so, one with an awed expression and the other with a surprised one.

Turning to the screen, he was just in time to see one of the competitors almost seeming to _dance_ around their clearly outmatched opponent, the movements on the kendoka's body seeming so smooth the man had a hard time believing it was actually a middle schooler and not a professional, the shinai she wielded easily parrying and redirecting every single hit from her increasingly frustrated enemy.

Finally, in a final desperate charge, the slightly taller participant rushed towards the girl, aiming for a quick and devastating strike…

"…it's over." whispered Kazuto as he sat down again.

…which failed when the girl simply sidestepped him with laughable easiness and slammed her shinai on his chest, winning the match, the multitude exploding into cheers while her opponent fell to his knees in clear shock.

"See? Not bad for a human practicing a cheap imitation of an art meant for fighting to death against their enemies." 'complimented' Gnarl with a dark chuckle, earning an annoyed look from Kayaba and being mostly ignored by Keiko, who was still staring with awe at the winner.

"Heh, my grandfather would have gotten crazy angry if he heard you say that, Gnarl." not-so-darkly chuckled the young Overlord while shaking his head. "And he could probably have beaten you too. The old man could hit like a bull when he was ang…"

It was at that moment that the new National Champion took off her head-protector and the boy's words died on his throat, everyone blinking in surprise at noticing how he stood up again, shock and disbelief filling his eyes as he STARED at the young girl.

Grayish-blue eyes looked at the crowd with a mix of pride and embarrassment, though she was quick to school her features into the serious calmness any kendoka should have, and that he knew had been drilled on her since she was very young.

Idly, she passed a hand over her lustrous dark hair, which fell down just slightly past her shoulders, unconsciously touching the golden and green hairpin with a motif of the sun, radically different from the one he last remembered seeing her use.

"So pretty…" muttered the youngest human in the room while staring at the now uncovered girl, even as the television announced how _Kirigaya Suguha_ was now the new National Champion. "Wait…Kirigaya?"

"Isn't that…?" started to ask Kayaba while turning around, only to fall silent at the intense and nostalgic smile on Kazuto's face.

"Sugu…" whispered the young Overlord while staring at the girl, who was barely able to hold back her smile as she was awarded the title of the country's best kendoka in her category. "…grandfather would be really proud of you."

"Is that someone from your family, my Overlord?" asked the Hellspawn with an interested look.

"Yeah, she's my cous…my little sister." muttered the black-haired boy with a small shake of her head. "I hadn't seen her in almost 5 years, so this came like quite the shock…then again, maybe not. She was always way more dedicated to kendo than I could have ever been…"

"We-well, as amazing as your little sister is, you're even more amazing in other ways, Kirito-sama!" quickly assured Keiko with an eager smile, though she kept giving glances towards the young girl on the screen and muttering something about needing to eat more.

"Indeed. Just as Silica-sama says, your calling was just in another place." clarified Gnarl while looking from the screen to the nostalgic-looking Overlord. "…want us to kidnap her and bring her here?"

"…what?! NO!" quickly shouted Kazuto with a horrified look on his face, staring at his Minion Master as if he had said the craziest things ever. "Why would you think I would want that?!"

"Because you used to complain all the time about how much you missed your family and wanted to talk to them once again to apologize for running away?" questioned the Hellspawn with a raised eyebrow. "You're the Overlord, future owner of the world, and know we have more than enough power to do something like kidnaping them easily and as such reuniting you with them…why wouldn't you want that?"

"Uhm, well, because…" trying to appear as calm as possible (And failing) while trying to think of an excuse that didn't involve saying he didn't want to ruin his family's life like he had accidentally done to poor Keiko (Which he really had to thank for being so good at keeping up the act of enjoying being there!), the boy's eyes widened as an idea finally surged through his mind. "Be-because my families are nobodies! Ye-yeah, that's why! Kidnaping them would be a waste of resources and time because they wouldn't further our endeavors of taking over the world in any way!"

"Hmm, you're not wrong about that, my lord…" accepted Gnarl while rubbing his goatee with a thoughtful look. "Does that mean you would only use our resources to kidnap someone that allowed us to further our evil plans and be useful for our cause at the same time?"

"O-of course!" agreed the young Overlord with a confident smile, going along with the weird talk just because he was thankful for driving the subject away from his family. "If we had to kidnap someone it would have to be someone influential, probably with a high standing on society, and a lot of resources we could take advantage of to further our evil plans …"

"So, someone like those guys?" asked Yui, who had been silent for quite some time now, while she pointed at the screen, making everyone blink and turn towards the magical projection to see what looked like some kind of press conference, with an elderly brown-haired man addressing the press from a podium while what seemed like his family and a bunch of bodyguards stood behind him.

"…can't let the terrible events of last year to stop us from progress! Kayaba Akihiko may have been a monster, but the technology he developed can still be used for the good of everyone! That's why RECT won't rest until we make sure that…!"

"Who is that guy?" asked a confused Kazuto while tilting his head.

"That's Yuuki Shouzou, CEO of RECT Inc. They're the only company with a main division fully centered around FullDive technology nowadays, after buying all of Kayaba's public research and anything that wasn't destroying last year from the now bankrupt Argus." swiftly informed Yui while looking up, a clear sign that Cardinal had just sent her that information. "The ones standing behind him are his wife, son and daughter; Yuuki Kyouko, Kouichirou and Asuna respectively. His company's main subdivision, RECT Progress, has become famous nowadays because of the creation of a new and completely safe FullDive device called 'AmuSphere'. Apparently, all of his drive for all of this comes from the fact that the division's previous chief, one Sugou Nobuyuki…died during the 'Overlord Incident' in Argus last year."

"Wait…Sugou? Why is that name so familiar…?"

"It's the guy who was driving the car you escaped in." deadpanned Kayaba while staring at his 'master' with disbelief. "You know…the one you left to explode to save Ke…Silica here?"

"Oh yeah, that guy! I had almost forgotten about him, to be honest…" muttered the young Overlord while, at his side, Keiko muttered a silent prayer for the man her dear Kirito-sama had chosen her to save over. "So, in a way, everything this Yuuki guy is doing is because of me, uh…?"

"More or less, Overlord-sama. Also, Yuuki Shouzou seems to be one of the people most intent on denying the authenticity of the 'Overlord Kirito', saying it was just a mentally unbalanced normal terrorist taking advantage of people's panic over the SAO incident to trick everyone." informed Yui while making a disapproving gesture.

"Ho-how dare he say those horrible things about Kirito-sama?! He can't be forgiven!" shouted the youngest human in the room while pointing towards the screen. "All the weight of Evil should fall on him! Isn't that right, Pina?!"

"Meow." was all that the conveniently-appeared cat said, obviously, as it rubbed its body against Keiko's leg and nodded.

"…say, is anyone else worried by how big that cat is getting?" wondered Kayaba while staring at the feline, which was now, for some reason, over half as big as Not-Wolfy was.

"No." was Gnarl's answer before narrowing his eyes towards the screen, ignoring both the scientist's groans and the CEO's speech as his eyes fixed on someone "Yes…this could work, my Overlord! A kidnapping to not only further our plans, but also remind the world that you're a real Evil that shall soon take it over!"

"Wa-wait, are we seriously going to kidnap that Shouzou guy?! He most likely has tons of bodyguards and security that I doubt the Minions can effectively…"

"Oh no, kidnaping the man itself would be a waste and it would be all but impossible to take advantage of his resources like that." explained the Hellspawn with a devious grin before pointing towards a specific person on the screen, standing dutifully beside her mother and brother. "But someone he cares deeply for, and that would be not even remotely as protected, on the other hand…"

Slowly, Kazuto, Keiko and Kayaba's attention turned towards the chestnut-haired girl with the clearly forced smile, who anyone with half a brain could say didn't want to be there, but did so anyway like any obedient child of a prestigious family would.

"…okay, why not? Let's kidnap Yuuki Asuna." said the scientist with a resigned 'evil chuckle', even as the black-haired boy's head snapped his way. "We're supposed to be the bad guys, after all!"

"Wha-what?! But…!"

"I will go organize the Minions and prepare the Gates for deployment!" cheerfully declared the twin-tailed girl before rushing away with her abnormally big cat in toe, not even giving the young Overlord time to call her name. "For Kirito-sama!"

"Well, it's decided then, my Overlord! Our next step has presented itself to us, surely thanks to your amazing luck!" preened Gnarl while raising his hands dramatically.

For his part…Kazuto forced an 'Evil Smile' on his face as he leaned forward.

"Indeed, Gnarl. That poor, helpless girl has no idea what's coming to her." spoke the black-haired boy with a sinister look.

In his mind, though, the only thing that could be heard was a constant repeat of ' _Fuck, fuck, fuck!'_

"Ohohoh, it always warms this old evil heart of mine to hear you say such things, master."

"Su-sure Gnarl, whatever you say…uhm, Yui-chan, do you think you could get Cardinal to…?"

"We already have all the public and private data on the girl, Overlord-sama, even at to which Private All-Girls School she attends, and her school's horary. Luckily for us, she's attending Summer Classes despite her high grades, so getting to her will be laughably easy, eheheheheh…was my evil laugh good?"

"I…wasn't going to ask that, but thanks, I guess? Also, please, never try to laugh like that again…"

"Hai, Overlord-sama."

Resisting the urge to scream in frustration, Kazuto sighed in defeat.

On the bright side, there was no way this situation could get any worse…

* * *

With a tired smile, Kirigaya Suguha entered her bathroom that night after having just said goodbye to her extremely happy and proud-looking mother, taking off her clothes and preparing herself a nice warm bath to wash away the sweat, tension, and embarrassment of the day.

Idly, the girl's gaze turned towards the bathroom's mirror, her eyes moving over her growing body and stopping on her face, her hand idly touching her hair and tugging softly at it with just a small hint of annoyance.

It was starting to grow too long. She always liked her hair shorter because it got in the way of kendo, no matter if her fellow kendoka told her she looked 'girlier' or 'prettier' with it. A year ago she would have never let it grow this long in the first place, but…

"Hey, hands off the hair, partner! We reached a compromise so stick to it!"

Barely suppressing a frustrated growl, the young kendoka glared towards her reflection…which now was crossing her arms over her breasts and giving her a cheerful look despite 'her' words, the intricately designed 'hairpin' with sun motifs on her hair despite the fact that the girl had taken it off.

Of course, that hadn't really been the case, as she couldn't 'take off' the 'hairpin', ever. It had just changed the way in which the world perceived it so that she could take a bath without it bothering her.

"You mean you forced me into one, Sanrei!" glowered Suguha while resisting the urge of punching the mirror, knowing that all she would do was being forced to invent an excuse for her mother. "I never asked for any of this, so I just went along with it because I had no other option!"

The entity called 'Sunray' in Japanese laughed brightly, the animosity of its 'host' seeming to not bother it in the slightest.

"Nee, you have to be more cheerful, Suguha-chan! After all, do you know how many people dream of being like the brave heroes of the legends? You should be ecstatic about what you are now!" dramatically declared the Sun Spirit while raising her arms, unmindful or uncaring of the nakedness of their shared body. "A paragon of Justice and Power among mortal men! A protector of the innocent! A light that shines without equal to illuminate the darkness!"

"…when you say it like that, it sounds almost cool." muttered the girl with a twitching eyebrow. "Of course, then you slip and mention how high my chances of suffering a horrible death against the Overlord are."

"Gasp! What are you saying, Suguha-chan?! You will totally defeat the Overlord and save the world, even if it costs your life!" a couple of seconds passed as Sanrei seemed to reflect on what she said. "EHEM, I mean, that you will totally beat him without losing your life, yeah!"

Shamelessly sighing in defeat, Suguha concentrated in cleaning her body while getting ready to enter the bathtub, ignoring further ramblings from her 'partner'.

Some days, she still hoped to wake up and find out this was all just a dream, but after almost a year since that fateful night, that hope had become nothing but a dream itself.

It all sounded like madness and gibberish, or the plot of some cheap fantasy anime for children: The Gods and ancient mystical creatures, all real, joining together to repel the previous Overlord, whose powers and armies of Evil were so great he slew every single one, even if they managed to take him down with them in the end. And Amaterasu-omikami herself, the Major Shinto Goddess of the Sun, mother of the universe, 'She who Shines in Heaven', the one the Japanese Emperors were said the descend from, had been the one that fought the last battle with him, her siblings dead around the two as she managed to land a fatal blow on the Dark One just as he destroyed her.

The followers of the Gods had then sealed the remains of the Overlord's army, hoping the Evil never again threatened their land or the world itself…but they had also created a 'failsafe', a last hope in case this happened, now that there was no force left on the world to oppose the Dark One if he returned.

Sanrei was nothing but a minor spirit of the sun, a servant of Amaterasu herself. Nothing 'special' in the grand scheme of things, but still a being far above mortals, and also the partner of many brave warriors that had fought against the Evil Minion Hordes and all other abominations the Overlord had under his control back then, turning them into powerful super-warriors that had been only called 'Heroes', able to defeat entire armies singlehandedly…even if all of them had ended up dead in the end.

And so, ancient monks and masters of the mystical arts had gathered what remained of the Gods' divine power, in the very same place where they fell against the Overlord, and imbued the Sun Spirit with it, before sealing it and connecting said seal to the one keeping the Dark One's armies sleep. That way, if the Master of Evil ever returned, they hoped that one of their descendants would be able to have enough power to beat him before he became too powerful.

…there ended up being several problems with that plan, though. First of all, it seemed the idiot of Sanrei had been sleeping for so long that, despite being released when the Overlord's seal broke, he had still slept like a log until the incident of last November, when the open use of the Dark One's evil powers had made it react, which meant the evil ruler had who knows how much time to train his powers. Then, there was the fact that not only the fear and memory of the Overlord and the old ways had been totally forgotten in the modern age, but also that all but one of the Gods' Servants' families still remained, and that there were all more 'normal people' than 'noble warriors'.

Besides the fact that he worked overseas, her father wouldn't even know what to do in a serious fight at all, and so it had been her, Kirigaya Suguha, barely a teenager, who had ended up being 'chosen' (Read, become the unwilling host) by Sanrei to carry on the suicidal task.

The girl just thanked the dead Gods that she had chosen to follow the way of kendo because of her grandfather, unlike her father, because, otherwise, she would probably have ended up with actually 0 chances of succeeding. After all, all the power she had been granted, whether she wanted it or not, would mean nothing against the Overlord without the skill to use it.

"…guha? Suguha? Ugh, are you ignoring me again? Stop being so gloomy! Shouldn't you be happier? You just became the country's champion!"

"And normally I would be beyond happy about that, but it's not easy when I was holding back the entire time to not beat the shit out of all my opponents!" growled the girl before looking down with a mix between a scowl and a worried look, biting her lips as she finally slid into the bathtub. "It was so easy…even that guy in the finals, I had to do a serious effort to not end the fight instantly, and it still was no challenge at all…I should feel terrible, I should feel like a cheater or a liar, but…I don't! Why?!"

"Because you did nothing wrong." nonchalantly answered Sanrei from the reflection now visible on the water's surface. "You're a 'Hero' now, someone who stands above all mortal men. You're _destined_ to shine over normal people, you're fated to stand above them, to be a beacon of Hope and Light that opposes the Darkness within their hearts!"

Suguha actually frowned at that, once again (As it had become a habit for her since last year) looking into the deeper meaning behind her 'partner's words.

Sanrei wasn't human, 'it' didn't even have an actual physical form, only adapting hers since they 'shared' a body, and 'her' philosophy just made it clearer every time they talked.

The Sun Spirit truly believed in every single thing she said. She truly believed that, by some random twist of Fate, the young kendoka was destined to be everything she said, to be the 'Knight in Shining Armor' that saved the day and vanquished evil to save the world. It was her nature to believe it.

…except that it was also very clear there was also a 'realistic' part of Amaterasu's Servant that knew how slim their chances were and how very likely it was that BOTH of them would die trying to fulfill this 'sacred task'. In a normal person, this would have meant either extreme hypocrisy or a serious psychological problem.

On Sanrei, though, it was just the way 'she' was. The only reason left she existed for.

The creature had been created by Amaterasu, just another among many, a guardian spirit and a protector of her followers. Whether she herself had faith in mankind or not was irrelevant, as it didn't affect her purpose to serve her Goddess and protect them.

Now, though, with the Gods gone and only one last task left to do, after which she would end up without purpose anyway, the Sun Spirit was single-mindedly determined to see it through no matter how it ended. Having to use a girl that wasn't even 15 for it and probably dooming her life in the process didn't matter because she had a concept of 'morals' that was almost alien compared to the human one.

And that, honestly, made Suguha shiver way more than the prospect of facing off against the reincarnation (Heir or whatever) of someone that had killed all of her country's major Deities in direct combat.

But, despite all of that, and even if she never had a choice to begin with…there was still something that drove her to try, to put up with the 'training' Sanrei had forced her into during the last months…

"…you won't go back on your promise, right? You will truly fulfill it, Sanrei?"

"I'm the last Sun Spirit that served Amaterasu-sama, Suguha. I _can't_ break any promise made in her name, nor would I ever willingly want to." answered her reflection with that annoyingly unnatural smile still on her face. "If by some miracle you manage to…I mean, WHEN you defeat the Overlord and survive, my powers will no longer have any purpose, so you will be free to use them to find your cousin…big brother….whatever you call him."

"Onii-chan…" whispered the young kendoka while closing her eyes.

If she was going to be forced into a nigh-suicidal task that seemed right out of some fantasy shonen manga then she may as well get something out of it, right?

She would do it. She would become strong enough to defeat the Overlord and when she did, she would use Sanrei's powers to find Kazuto. To ask him why he didn't come back, if he hated their family…if he hated her. Or…

Well, it didn't matter for now. All that did was to keep mastering her powers, maybe convince her annoying body-mate of what those '3 Treasures' she had mentioned long ago were and find a way to defeat the surprisingly absent Dark One (Of course, unlike the people online who were starting to believe it had been nothing more than a trick, she _knew_ the guy was the real deal).

Hopefully, she would still have some months to keep practicing with her 'Hero' powers before anything serious happened…

* * *

The next day, as she finished her summer classes for the day, Yuuki Asuna stared listlessly out of the window as she grabbed her schoolbag.

Yesterday had been quite boring, but dad had insisted in that it would project a 'better image' if all of them were present during his speech, so she had to go. Taking advantage of her brother being home much more lately had also been helpful in that regard.

And it was that what made the teenager sigh, even as she smiled at her classmates as she exited the classroom, her mind wandering to the incident last year, when she was stupid enough to put on Kouichirou's Nerve Gear to 'see how that virtual game was like', and that could have very well cost her life.

If she had just gone straight to her room and studied like every other day, she wouldn't have gone through what probably were the worst hours of her life, filled with fear and despair, until the 'incident' that set everyone from SAO free happened.

She was so terrified that the first thing she did when she 'woke up' was to latch on her mother and brother (Her father hadn't been present at the time because of the aforementioned event), cry her heart out and repeat 'I'm sorry!' endless times. Both of them had been so shocked that any idea the woman had of reprimanding her had been forgotten and they had just awkwardly hugged her.

Asuna had been forced into a very expensive private psychologist for a whole week after that, at her family's insistence, just to make sure she was okay. She had nothing to say against that, as long as it didn't get in the way of her studies. Coincidentally, she had passed her upcoming tests with flying colors because of how obsessed she had been with the 'monotony' of studying after she almost died because of wanting to have some 'excitement', not to mention the weird mood around the house when Sugou-san had been killed that same day (She wasn't particularly close with the man that was supposed to become her husband in the future, so she didn't really know how to feel about that).

Her mother was right, after all. She just needed to be concerned about her studies and being successful in life, nothing more. That certainly would keep her away from videogames that could kill her.

Still, as she exited the school building proper and started the walk through the main grounds towards the car waiting outside to take her home, a small and annoying part of herself couldn't help but remember with a bit of longing the short time she spent within Aincrad before the true nature of the Death Game was revealed, walking through the streets of Starting City and watching the people going around and talking with each other, no one paying special attention to her, a couple even greeting her out of politeness instead of it being because she was the Yuuki heiress or a 'rich girl'. That strange yet not unpleasant feeling of being 'just a normal girl'…

Shaking her head, the chestnut-haired teen turned back to reality and looked forward. Such thoughts didn't matter anymore. Her life was set in a very specific path, which in the end she didn't really mind following (Having been raised for it specifically), and nothing would ever happen to change that rea…

The sound of terrified screams, shouts and of a speeding car caught Asuna's attention just as she saw the car she usually boarded to get back home rushing _into_ the school grounds, her mouth dropping open at seeing not only the driver unconscious near the actual entrance, not to mention the female students running out of its way…but also the brownish, inhuman creatures of yellow eyes standing above and inside the vehicle.

Asuna had barely enough time to remember how many times she had agreed with her family about the whole 'Overlord' thing being nothing more than a very elaborate scam prepared by a terrorist seeking to take advantage of the SAO incident before the car drifted brutally and almost ran her over, the young heiress screaming as she fell on her ass from the shock just as the door's slammed open and a cute, if quite big, dog with some weird message on the side stared at her, a Minion with a weird armor and a rubber chicken in hand pointing dramatically at her from its side.

"Kidnap humie! For Overlord!"

Finally, the chestnut-haired girl remembered how to scream in fright as several Browns rushed out and grabbed her, easily taking her inside the car despite her best attempts at struggling while kicking and punching, the creature's seemingly uncaring of her hits as the door's closed and the vehicle accelerated away, the screams of her classmates for her name idly reaching Asuna's ears as she managed to sit up and press herself against the seat, fumbling for the seatbelt while her terrified eyes moved from the grinning Minions to the front of the car, where Rubber-band was merrily sitting on the wheel.

"This is not real, this isn't real…I was _not_ just kidnapped by a bunch of actual monsters as one of them drives away a car when he can't even reach the pedals…"

"Actually, Rubber-band-san isn't the one driving, it's me." came an emotionless female voice from the car's speakers, making the young heiress' mouth drop open at seeing the figure of a little girl with dull eyes appearing on the screen that usually displayed the weather and other similar info. "Good evening, Yuuki Asuna-san. In the name of Evil, we have kidnapped you."

All that the girl said in answer was a whimper, even as the Minions surrounding her (And the ones still atop the car) cheered and laughed sinisterly, making her feel the need of curling into a ball.

Asuna wasn't sure how long they were driving, maybe 10 minutes, maybe half an hour, but she was too busy trying to not have a mental breakdown like she had back in SAO to notice. The point was that, in the end, she felt the car slowing down and gulped as all doors opened, the devilish creatures beckoning her out with dark chuckles. Unable to do anything else, the chestnut-haired girl followed.

That's the first time she saw HIM, and she felt her breath catch in her throat as her gaze fell upon his imposing and otherworldly form.

Clad in an armor blacker than the night, with eldritch designs that spoke of an Evil long-forgotten but never gone, a wicked blade humming with dark power on his hand. The white mantle carried upon his back only seemed but a purposeful contrast to show how much Black was his color, like the darkness itself obeying him, but also spoke of power and riches, of someone larger than life destined for greatness since birth.

His eyes stared at her from beyond the black helmet, and the dark golden glow they held made even that of the alien Gate standing behind him seem dim in comparison, betraying the untold power his small frame, barely taller than her, hid.

His voice made her very soul shiver, fear and a myriad of unknown emotions filling her at hearing it.

 **"Tell me, Yuuki Asuna…do you still think I'm nothing but a fraud?"** asked Overlord Kirito with dark amusement in his words.

All Asuna could do to answer was frantically shake her heart, feeling her body trembling without control.

"Woah, she is _really_ terrified…" commented Gnarl from back in the Throne Room, he, Kayaba and Keiko watching the scene through a magical projection Cardinal had created thanks to the link between the Overlord's power and the Netherworld Gate which now stood behind him. "Truly, your Evil presence just keeps making those simple humans realize how insignificant they are, my lord!"

"Yes, yes, he has traumatized the rich teenage girl, amazing. Can we please hurry this up before anything that screws the plan up happens?" spoke the scientist with a tired look.

"…that almost seems as if you're actually expecting something like that to happen, Heathcliff-san." deadpanned the twin-tailed girl while looking at the man.

"Indeed, that's just silly!" waved it off Gnarl while they saw Kirito stepping closer to the terrified Asuna. "Cardinal made sure to scramble signals and redirect the humans' emergency calls everywhere so that the authorities couldn't intervene in time! What could possibly ruin our lord's plans now?"

Back on the small clearing, the Yuuki heiress almost jumped as she saw the Dark One extending his armored hand towards her.

"Wha…ah…?"

 **"Now then…come with me without resistance."** simply declared Kirito while trying very hard not to break character. **"Or things will get very…unpleasant for you."**

Staring at him for a moment, the chestnut-haired girl hesitated…before resigning herself and starting to reach out, her heart filled with despair and fear…

"(Let go of her, you monster!)"

…before Hope and Light exploded forward, shaking the entire area with an explosion of power.

The minions screamed, most of them being cut apart, Not-Wolfy barely able to get his rider out of the way.

Back in the Netherworld Tower, the 3 most loyal servants of the Overlord shouted their master's name in shock, before their eyes widened at what they saw.

Slowly, the young Overlord dropped the shield he had raised by instinct, barely containing a shocked gasp at the figure now standing at the other end of the clearing, holding his 'hostage' protectively against her side.

Blinking in shock, Yuuki Asuna looked up.

Beautiful yellow hair, like that of the morning sun, spilled back and upwards, held in a ponytail by an armored decoration filled with motifs of the sun, same ones filling the sharp mask that covered the upper half of a pretty yet strong-looking face.

Golden and green armor covered her chest, hips, legs and arms, tight against her body like it shouldn't have been possible for any normal metal, the exposed parts of her beautiful skin shining with the radiance of the sun, as if to indicate they were no less protected despite the lack of armor.

On the center of her chest, just over her bountiful breasts, the Mark of the Sun, the ancient symbol of Amaterasu-omikami, burned with radiance, a blade that seemed made of nothing but concentrated light held tightly with the hand that wasn't holding Asuna to her side.

The young heiress was pretty sure she felt her heart skip a beat and a light blush creeping on her face when the masked face looked down towards her, the radiant being's (Because Asuna could in no way call her simply a 'girl') lips twisting with worry.

"(Are you okay?)"

All she received in answer was a dumb nod, still overwhelmed by the shining girl's presence, same one 'Overlord Kirito' was experiencing in that moment.

It was like a radiant well of Hope and Light. A mystical and unnatural presence that offered protection and the assurance that everything would be well, that the sun would come out tomorrow and that rainbows would cover the sky, that birds would sing songs of peace and that all your dreams would be fulfilled.

The part of him that was a kid who lived 10 years as a normal human felt as mesmerized by it as Asuna was.

The other part, however, the one that had awakened the moment he broke the ancient seal of the Overlord, that which was Evil and Darkness destined to rule over it all, felt repulsed by it, as if was the antithesis of everything he stood for, and as if her mere existence made him feel sick.

 **"Wh-who the hell are you?!"** shouted the young Overlord once he felt his voice come back under his control, idly noticing a wary-looking Rubber-band taking position at his side, the other remaining lonely Brown doing the same on the other.

For her part, the armored girl just let go of Asuna, making sure of putting herself between him and the chestnut-haired adopting a fighting stance while raising their holy-looking weapon.

"(I'm the Hero Leafa, the last Servant of Amaterasu!)" proclaimed the blonde as her aura shone stronger still, the power of the sun filling the minions with dread and the young heiress with hope. "(Overlord Kirito…I won't let you lay a hand on this girl!)"

Asuna gasped, her hand shooting over her heart in surprise.

Kazuto gaped under his helmet, having no idea of what was going on.

Gnarl growled, jumping in place with worried/angry look at the Hero's reveal, the 2 human present looking at him with confusion.

All the while…a single thought kept echoing inside the brave hero's mind, sung by two voices, one scared and the other resignedly cheerful.

 _"We're so doomed, we're so doomed, we're so doomed…!"_

And so, after countless years, Light and Darkness were about to clash once again…

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Dramatic cliffhanger! Next time, an epic, dramatic and beyond belief battle of unholy proportions between the Dark and Terrible Master of Evil and the Brave and Unyielding Hero of the Sun!

…that was a lie, by the way :D

Anyway, that's all for now, folks! Hope you had fun seeing how Silica is being corrupted without they even realizing, Kayaba is giving up on trying to be the rational man, Kirito keeps being unable to escape his evil destiny, and now Sugu has become the Hero the world needs, but not the one that she wants to be (As in, she never wanted to be one in the first place XD)!

Also, yes, I'm aware that **Sugu** _saving Asuna_ from 'Evil' Kirito is probably the biggest Multiversal Irony ever written on this side of Fanfiction. I'm not sorry :P

Okay then, now I will go back to work in OPG's next chapter. Stay cool, everyone, and have a nice start of December (Here is raining and it's freaking cold XP)!

Until next time, this is Saint, signing off!


	5. Chapter 4: Heroine vs Overlord!

Surprise Update, everyone!

Being serious, though, after the last extremely fast Update for OPG:CoF, and knowing that I will soon have almost no time to write for at least a couple months (As I mentioned there), I decided I quick Update on this fic was in order, and I effectively could write this chapter on the super-fast time I remembered I'm used to with it. Glad it's still a bundle of crazy fun to write, and I hope it's the same for those of you who read it XP

That aside, are you ready for more EVIL, everyone XD? The epic clash between Good and Evil is here! Who shall stand victorious in the end?!

Also, before I forget, Leafa's mask by inspired by the one worn by Yasha from Asura's Wrath, in case anyone feels like Googling it to see how it is, though obviously with everyone's favorite Sylph's colors, and with Sun motifs :P Oh, and this fic also got a TvTropes page! Check it out and help out with it if you can, I would be very grateful if you did!

Now, without more delay, enjoy this chapter!

 **Disclaimer:** Neither SAO nor Overlord belong to me. I'm just mixing the characters and plots for fun because I'm weird like that.

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Unwilling Heroine vs. Unwilling Overlord!**

 **August 19th, 2023. Japan, a clearing in the countryside. 17:15…**

Kazuto was trying to do his best not to panic and try to understand what the hell was going on.

Of course, when he had accepted (Aka 'been forced by circumstances') the plan of kidnapping that Yuuki bigshot's daughter, he had expected many things to go wrong, like every time he actually had to do something 'Evil'. Given the last time he went out to the surface it ended up in a total clusterfuck, he was more than ready for things to go even more wrong this time, especially because this time they actually were aiming to kidnap someone instead of 'just' stealing machinery that probably cost millions of yens, not to mention causing as much or so in property damage.

When everything had apparently gone smoothly in an extremely easy way, even when the first and arguably most important part of the plan was in charge of the Minions (And technically Yui), he had been pleasantly surprised. In hindsight, THAT should have been his obvious cue to know things were about to go to hell, but…how could he have expected something _this_ crazy?

He had been expecting an entire police squad somehow having followed the Minions, the JSDF having caught them, or maybe that Yuuki Asuna had some super-secret badass bodyguard that wouldn't rest until she was safe, like in some American movies.

A girl in armor and a burning sword of light, radiating with a power and aura that made the darkest part of his own powers feel sick, claiming to be a Hero from a Goddess, though?

He was too young for this shit.

Suguha, for her part, was trying very hard of keeping up the 'Confident Heroic' front she had on the outside so that the panicked and borderline hysteric teen inside didn't become apparent.

This was _not_ how she was planning to spend her evening, not at all. She was ready to relax a bit after the National Finals yesterday, a day just for her to be calm, with no kendo, no 'Hero Training' and nothing else but school. She had even gotten Sanrei to be silent for most of the day!

And then, just as she had gotten home and turned on her bro… _her_ computer to maybe navigate through the web for a bit, she had been bombarded with social network's warnings going crazy about _the Overlord having just kidnapped a teenage girl_ as she walked out of her High School.

Usually, the young kendoka would have dismissed it, if it wasn't for the fact that they were several pictures, some blurry and some more or less decent, of the 'Minions' hauling Yuuki Asuna, daughter of RECT's CEO, into a car while her schoolmates (Who had posted the 'warning' like crazy everywhere for the last 20 minutes) could only watch helplessly.

It was crazy. Stupid. Beyond reckless.

But despite all of that, the moment she had finished reading that, she had been out and about, Sanrei cheering as she let the power of the Sun flare through her and she shot out of her house so fast she was nothing but a blur of sunlight.

When she had become aware of the madness she was going, between shocked and scared for having acted almost without thinking, her 'loyal' Sun Spirit had informed her that it was just another of the side-effects that having been imbued with the 'Power of Good' had caused her.

After all, as cliché and retarded as it sounded in real life, weren't True Heroes famous for their bodies moving on their own and just _acting_ when someone was in danger?

She was about to enter yet another of her by now half-forgotten arguments with her 'body-mate' about what she thought of having basically been brainwashed into the hopeless Paragon of Justice of the modern day when both had frozen upon feeling the **Evil** flaring in the distance.

The Overlord was there. He had come out for the poor, innocent and, more than likely, terrified girl.

Sure, Suguha felt like that too in more than one way…except that, unlike her, Asuna had not only nothing to do with the whole thing (Even if the younger girl only did so because of stupid and convenient circumstances of her family), but also lacked any powers to defend herself from the Master of Evil.

And so, whether it was because of good conscience or because of what the Power within her had subtly done to her body, the last pure Kirigaya alive had found herself there, saving the heiress of the company most willing to keep spearheading FullDive Technology after SAO's disaster, and face to face with the one Fate had decreed to be her arch-nemesis and, more likely, her end.

Overlord Kirito.

Taking a deep breath, she tightened her grip on the sun-blade she had created out of her raw energy and sank deeper into a stance practiced since childhood, reinforced by the power and vague knowledge of ancient warriors of the Sun Goddess, letting Kirigaya Suguha vanish from the world.

Hero(ine) Leafa was ready now.

"(One last chance, monster. Let me take the girl to safety and you won't have to feel the wrath of my blade.)" declared the Last Hero with a confidence she wasn't really feeling, hoping against hope her enemy would accept.

For his part, Kazuto was conflicted. This went well beyond keeping his 'Evil Overlord' façade. He was pretty sure he could find a way to convince Gnarl that there was no other safe choice for him than to back off right away under such conditions. But…

 _Something_ within him screamed at the mere thought. A darkness, a rage, a disgust so great he could have never imagined could exist within him, brought forth from the abyss because of this girl's presence…no, because of the Power she wielded. An ancient grudge inherited from a long-vanquished Evil, from the one who had ruled over the world through Fear and brought Despair into the hearts of all.

The **Overlord** within him would never accept to run from the pathetic remains of those who had ended the life of his predecessor.

Not without a fight…to the last consequences.

 **"…I have a better offer."** as those words came from within his helmet, eldritch power exploded all around the Overlord, making the 2 remaining Minions look excited all of a sudden, Not-Wolfy howling in empathy. **"Stand aside and I won't have to erase all trace of your existence from this world."**

 _"…well, it was worth a shot."_ nonchalantly commented Sanrei from within the terrified girl's mind. _"Ready for this, partner?!"_

 _"You know I'm not!"_ mentally cried Suguha while she risked looking peripherally towards the young heiress behind her. "(Asuna-san, stay back. I will take care of this.)"

"A-ah…ye-yes…" shakily nodded the chestnut-haired girl. "…be careful."

"(I shall.)" answered the Last Hero while giving her a Hope-inspiring smile (Literally, given her powers), causing Asuna to blush and nod again.

 **"I disagree."** simply declared the young Overlord before raising his arm, raw Darkness exploding from within and consuming Rubber-band and the other nameless brown, making them bulge and grow into tall and muscle-bound abominations with massive grins, which them proceeded to 'pose manly' (Or at least what they thought that was after seeing anime). **"Minions…end her."**

"For the Overlord!" roared the mutated creatures before they moved faster than a sprinting tiger would, massive arms with deadly claws descending over the, under the mask, wide-eyed heroine in less than 2 seconds.

A massive boom filled the area as a crater was formed from the attack's pressure, the young heiress screaming Leafa's name as the wind blew her hair, and Kirito's cape, all around.

Back the Netherworld Tower, three shocked stares watched the scene before them in disbelief.

"…since when can he do that?" numbly questioned Kayaba while feeling a massive headache and a hint of terror filling his head.

"Si-since never! He just subconsciously awoke even more of his sleeping power…out of the blue!" all but screamed Gnarl in excitement, barely suppressed the need of jumping up and down in joy. "I knew he had a potential beyond belief, but to think it would materialize in ever more than amazing attitude for everything Evil-related…my lord is truly beyond compare!"

"Kirito-sama is really amazing, isn't he?" agreed Keiko with a happy smile. "He totally showed that meddling girl who is boss!"

"…ye-yes, he totally did…" mumbled the scientist while remembering there was a time when the young girl before him wouldn't have seemed so honestly cheerful before the prospect of someone that, for all intents and purposes, was doing the right thing being slaughtered by a pair of monsters. "…why the hell were those two posing anyway?"

"They watched too much of that Jojo series on Tv." explained the Hellspawn as if that was the answer to everything, though for Kayaba (Who wasn't that much of a manga/anime fan) it only brought even more confusion. "I got to say, though, that supposed 'Hero' ended up being very dissa…"

An explosion of Sunlight cut Gnarl's words before they could even finish being uttered, half of a mutated minion flying away even as Rubber-band, now missing an arm, rolled back with shock, his canine partner barking in worry while their Master raised a surprised eyebrow.

From within the cloud of dust, which was promptly dispersed, Leafa stood up, unharmed, not even a speck of blood from the creature she had easily slain staining her immaculate form, an aura worthy of some super powerful shonen character surrounding her as she swiped her blade to the side, raw sunlight disintegrating the lower half of the Super Minion that had been left before her.

"(Is that all?)" questioned the Last Hero. "(My turn, then.)"

With a blur of speed, with the grace one would think only possible in fictional stories exaggerated to sound that much more magnificent or amazing, the Chosen of the Sun _moved_ , her blade singing forward.

Rubber-band had enough time to squeak before seeing the blade descending upon his face, ready to split it in half…before it was brutally halted with a clang of steel against solid light.

Barely suppressing a gasp, Suguha stared from behind her mask into the eyes of the abyss.

Grunting, surprised at the girl's inhuman strength, Kazuto stared back, his gaze a burning golden fire.

Of course, all that the world saw were Overlord Kirito and Hero Leafa, locked in a clash of blades.

 **"Sorry, but I have lost enough Minions today, and this one is particularly more useful. I don't want to waste resources bringing him back again if it's not strictly necessary."** replied the Master of Evil before raising his empty hand, all of the Last Hero's instincts screaming terrible danger in that second, Sanrei doing the same within her head. **"Inferno."**

Asuna had barely enough time to blink before Hell descended upon the Earth, a massive omnidirectional wave of raging flames consuming the world around him, the heat threatening with roasting her alive in an instant…and then, she was safe, cradled in a presence that brought nothing but safety and Hope into her soul, soaring through the air as the pillar of evil flame grew distant.

Looking up, the chestnut-haired girl saw Leafa's slightly smoking form holding her bridal style, the heroine panting slightly but still offering her a reassuring smile as they landed from her inhuman jump.

"(Asuna-san, are you uninjured?)"

"A-ah! Ye-yes, I am fine, Le-Leafa-sama…" muttered the young heiress while looking away, idly noticing how her uniform and the tips of her hair were smoking slightly, but she otherwise seemed to be okay.

"(Good. Please, try and run away as fast as you can. We may be far away from any road, but it's more than clear that you're not safe here.)" declared the Last Hero while turning around, blade raised. "(I will deal with him.)"

"Bu-but…he's a monster! His power is so massive it seems like something out of a horror story!" all but shouted Asuna while feeling her soul shake at the memory of the Overlord's power. "Ca-can you really beat him?"

 _"Of course I can't, you idiot! That's why I'm telling you to run the hell away so that I may do so too when he's out of range!"_ desperately cried Suguha within her mind, only a lifetime of being raised as a kendoka allowing nor to scream it out loud and instead keep up her reassuring façade, helped by the unnatural Divine power she had been granted. "(Of course I can. I'm a Hero, after all.)"

 **"Brave words, from someone that had to run away from my spell."** spoke a cold and unnatural voice that sent a shiver down both girls' backs, their gazes moving as one in time to see the figure of Kirito emerging from the tree line, the burning forest behind him seemingly making his form all the more terrifying, the young heiress expecting ominous Latin chanting to start any second as he calmly strode towards them. **"You're no threat to me."**

Within Kazuto's mind, however, a very different story was taking place.

 _"Shi-shit, why was that spell so powerful?! I was even holding back! A-and she still dodged it like it was nothing, I couldn't see her move at all!"_ screamed the desperate thoughts of the young Overlord as he tried to calm himself down. _"O-okay, calm down, Kazuto, you still have got this. The mission is all but failed anyway, so if I can just scare this girl away and get a good measure of her power then it should be enough…yes. It's time to do THAT."_

"(You say that, but the way I see it, you're done to no servants and I still have no scratch on me, Overlord!)" taunted Leafa while pointing her blade forward, lamenting that Asuna had seemingly decided no place was safer than right behind her the moment the Evil One showed up. "(As long as you're threatening this girl, I'm not backing down!)"

"Le-Leafa-sama…" whispered the chestnut-haired girl while crossing her hands over her chest.

 **"…I see. Then you leave me no option…"** as he said those words, Kirito's empty hand moved, making both girls tense…and then look confused as it reached for the clasps of his mantle. **"But showing you the true difference between our powers."**

The moment he finished that declaration, the young Overlord let go of his arguably oversized cape, throwing it aside.

With a thundering sound of earth cracking, it fell down and crashed into the dirt with massive force, leaving a small crater on its way.

Asuna whimpered. Suguha swore mentally, suddenly feeling cold sweat covering her.

Watching from the Netherworld, Keiko gasped. Gnarl looked in awe. Kayaba felt both his eyebrows twitch.

"What." stated the father of FullDive technology, unable to even voice it like a question.

"A-astounding! When my lord asked specifically for a mantle that had been enchanted to weight so much, I was skeptical as to which purpose it could have besides basic training, but now I see! The psychological effect upon his enemies is even more efficient than when shown in modern media!"

"…are you telling me you actually a shonen-like piece of 'stupidly heavy clothes' in the vault…and that he has been wearing it every time he goes out as the Overlord?" fearfully questioned Kayaba, his disbelief at the sheer stupidity of the entire thing being outweighed by a single thought.

That, the entire time during the operation to retrieve the SAO Servers, the teenager, who was barely over 14 at the time, had been wearing the mantle without seemingly any issue.

 _"…partner, I think we may be even more screwed than we thought."_ muttered Sanrei as the Overlord cranked his neck to the side, as if getting used to the feeling of not wearing his cape over the armor.

 _"…you think?"_ pitifully moaned before her powers and instincts screamed. _"Shi-shit!"_

 **"Here I come, Hero of the Sun."** shamelessly declared Kirito, quoting a particularly favorite line/scene of him, not caring for the irony of using it in such a situation. " **Do you still think you have enough power?"**

The world screamed as the Evil One _moved_. In answer, Leafa roared and did the same.

Blades clashed, ancient evil steel against raw divine sunlight crafted into a sword.

The trees around them cracked. The earth split. Asuna screamed, feeling herself flying back from the force of the clash. The forest fire that had started seemed to shrink back in fear.

And after two seconds of a stalemate…the Last Hero was thrown back like a meteor with an undignified squeak, her sunlight-sword shattering into a million pieces as she went through several trees.

"(Uaaaaaaaaaaah…!)"

 _"Ho-holy shit! His strength is crazy! Su-Suguha, pull yourself together or we're going to crash!"_

 _"We're going to die, we're going to die, we're going to…!"_

"Kyaaaaaaaaah!"

"(Ah! ASUNA-SAN!)" screamed the Last Hero upon hearing the innocent's scream of fear, instincts honed for Justice and Hope taking over as she righted herself in midair, kicking off (And utterly destroying) the next tree she was about to crash against, catching the flying form of Asuna in time to stop her from slamming face-first against a tree. "(Got you! Now I need to get you…)"

"Le-Leafa-sama, behind you!" shouted the young heiress in terror as the dark-armored figure of Evil appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

"(Like hell you're catching me off guard again!)" replied the blonde girl while spinning around, one hand raised over the other girl's shoulder and aiming straight towards the Overlord.

His eyes widened at the last second, even as raw sunlight blossomed outwards in a beam of Good and Salvation.

Panting and doing her best to not fall to her knees, Leafa landed, letting a worried Asuna stand on her own as she turned around towards the cloud of devastation her last attack had caused.

"Di-did you get him…?"

"(Yes, I did.)" grimly nodded the heroine while reforming her sunlight blade. "(Thing is, I'm pretty sure that wasn't enough to…)"

 **"Useless."**

A myriad of darkness' spheres exploded from within the smoke, the Last Hero gritting her teeth and quickly ignored those far enough as she slashed all the ones that would have hit her, the young heiress, or the area around them vanquishing them with inhuman skill.

Stepping out from the destruction, looking no worse for wear, Overlord Kirito strode forward, his gaze never leaving Leafa's tired form.

"(Ugh…I'm not…beaten yet…)"

 **"Look at yourself, 'Hero'. You can barely stand. Face it, you have lost."** darkly declared the Dark One while stabbing the dirt with his blade, pointing towards them with his open hands. **"Now, accept your defeat or the next spell will be something truly serious."**

 _"Shi-shit, he hasn't gotten serious yet?! Sanrei, this wasn't a nigh-impossible task, this was a suicide mission since the beginning!"_

 _"Kuh, as I thought…we stand no chance against him without the 3 Treasures! Partner, we have no choice but to run away now! The world can't afford to lose us now, especially not with how strong the Overlord already is!"_

 _"D-do you really think he will just let us go?!"_ mentally screamed Suguha while trying desperately to think of a way out of her current dilemma.

 _"Please, surrender…I already went more over the top than I thought I ever would in my life, and I'm starting to get scared of how right it feels when I let my power loose like this."_ were the thoughts rushing through Kazuto's head, the young Overlord torn between the thrill of using his powers and scared of how absurdly skilled the girl he was facing was. _"If it wasn't because I overpower her by an absurdly unfair margin, she would have beaten the shit out of me several times over by now. Damn, if I don't get her to stand down I fear I may end up seriously hurting…"_

"S-stop!" shouted the last person anyone was expecting to get in the middle of the Destined Fight, Yuuki Asuna herself walking past the shocked heroine, doing her best to not shake. "I-I will go with you, bu-but please, don't hurt Leafa-sama anymore!"

"(A-Asuna-san, what are you saying?!)" shouted the Last Hero while taking a step towards the young heiress, only to grimace at how heavy her body felt. "(Yo-you can't go with him, he will…!)"

"I know…bu-but, if it means you will get to survive and fight another day, I don't mind." honestly spoke the chestnut-haired girl, given her wannabe savior a grateful smile. "Thanks…for everything. I never thought someone selfless enough to risk everything for someone else out of sheer goodness could exist before today."

 **"…very well. Come here, and I will let her go. She's not worth wasting my power anymore."** conceded the Dark One, barely able to believe such a lucky development had taken place, taking care of adding that last line so that Gnarl or anyone else watching couldn't mistake it for him showing 'mercy'. **"This is my victory, Hero Leafa."**

"(N-no…)" muttered the blonde girl while Asuna nodded to her one last time and started walking away.

The World seemed to distort in the Last Hero's eyes, watching the back of the innocent sacrificing herself just because she wasn't strong enough.

And, for a moment, the image of Yuuki Asuna walking towards the sinister and diabolical shadow of the Overlord (Distorted monstrously in her vision) was replaced by the innocent and kind one of her missing big brother.

The instant she saw the illusion of Kirigaya Kazuto standing before the Dark One, his evil hands closing over him…something within her EXPLODED.

With a roar of defiance, Kirigaya Suguha shouted forward, _something_ bursting from her back and blossoming with the power of the Rising Sun.

Overlord Kirito's eyes widened in utter shock, barely raising his blade in time to block a slash at sonic speeds.

The black blade of Evil exploded, dark metal crashing everywhere and stabbing into his armor like incandescent shrapnel, even as the new figure shot towards the heavens.

Back in the Netherworld Tower, three voices screamed, two shouting for the name of their master while the last one looked up in shock at the new visage they were witnessing, voicing his shock out loud.

"She can fly?!" came Kayaba's baffled voice, seeing the figure floating in the air with the wide-eyed Yuuki heiress in her arms again, ten beautiful wings made of raw sunlight and sharp like the proverbial rays of the sun.

"She flies?!" repeated Kazuto from where he laid on the ground, staring upwards in shock…and a bit of jealousy.

 _"We can fly?!"_ mentally screamed Suguha, unable to believe what she had just done.

 _"Huh, look at that, we're flying…I honestly wasn't expecting that."_ confessed Sanrei, apparently as surprised by their new wings as her partner was. _"And holy shit, girl…you destroyed his sword!"_

"Le…Leafa-sama…?" mumbled Asuna while staring up at her in even more awe than before, the Last Hero now seeming like some sort of Sun Angel in her eyes.

"(Asuna-san…what kind of Hero would I be if I had abandoned you for my own sake?)" rhetorically asked the blonde girl with a relieved smile.

After all, if she had abandoned the girl she hadn't even known 15 minutes ago, how could she ever expect to survive long enough to find her dear brother?

But just as the young heiress seemed about to reply…a world-shattering scream of rage shook everything.

 **"HEROOOO!"** roared Overlord Kirito as he shot through the air, having jumped with enough power to create shockwaves that destroyed the already brutalized forest even more, hand outstretched towards the floating pair. **"You shall not…BEST ME!"**

Doing what he hoped was his best interpretation of a villain unwilling to lose, the boy-turned-Overlord reached out towards them. As expected, Leafa's wings shot forward, moving herself and Asuna inches away from his grasp at the very last second, their gazes clashing in what he hoped looked enough like some hateful/surprised clash…

…and then raw lighting in the shape of some sort of demonic lightsaber emerged from his outstretched hand, aimed directly at the heroine's skull.

Suguha gasped. Kazuto's mind screamed. Asuna shouted.

With a movement that only being trained since a young age by Kirigaya Kaito allowed her to execute, the last pure Kirigaya almost broke her own neck by cranking it as back as she could in a single move, the Lighting Blade passing an inch before her nose…and cutting straight through her mask.

Split in half, the headgear all but exploded, shooting backward and, by chance, one of its pieces also destroying the Last Hero's hairpin.

Blinking, the blonde girl fell her hair fall down her back like a beautiful cascade of morning sun, her eyes (Now green with the transformation), staring unblocked into the world, shining with the grace of Amaterasu's power, granting her already 'pretty' face, by normal human standards, a beauty beyond that of any normal.

The other two teens present froze at the sight, time itself seeming to stop as three gazes crossed, two fixed on the last and thinking the same thing at the same time, though only the black-haired boy voiced it out loud.

 **"Beautiful…"**

Then, the moment was over and Overlord Kirito kept flying upwards, out of control at lacking any real means to fly, leaving a blinking Leafa to wonder if she had actually heard THAT last part or if her already pounding head had just messed with her further.

The next instant, however, the Last Hero shook her head and, with a resolute expression, spread her wings to their utmost extreme, giving one last glance to the now falling form of her arch-nemesis before shooting the still awe-frozen Asuna an encouraging smile.

"(Hang on, Asuna-san…we're getting out of here!)"

And with a flash of sunlight, they were off, cutting through the air at impossible speeds and vanishing from view just as the Dark One's body hit the ground.

In the Netherworld, everything was a frantic blur of desperate activity and crazy worry, Kayaba quickly coming to the realization that he seemed to be the only one who hadn't lost it when the 'live feed' they were all seeing vanished into static the moment their Master hit the ground and Yui announced with clear worry that his helmet's signal had been lost.

"Overlord gone! Overlord gone!"

"We must find Overlord!"

"I-it can't be…our Master…"

"Ki-Kirito-sama has to be okay! The-there is no way something as si-simple as that could have beaten him!" shouted Keiko while trying to calm down the madness around them, but it was pretty obvious she was at the edge of a panic attack. "W-we need to send a team to find…!"

"Overlord…fine…" spoke a tired and familiar voice, making the entire group freeze and turn towards the center of the room, just in time to see the eldritch light of a teleporting vanish as a tired, back to normal and still armless Rubber-band half-dragged, half-helped Kazuto walk into the room, Not-Wolfy doing his best to also help despite the limitations of being a dog. "He…a bit shaken…though…"

The Minion's words were a bit of stating the obvious, though, as the young Overlord clearly had seen better days. His missing mantle aside, the once imposing armor he wore was filled with indentures and gashes from where his lost blade had exploded all over him, miraculously not having pierced all the way to his flesh. Also, his helmet was gone, revealing the tired face of the black-haired boy as he tried to recover his breath, dirt, and grime staining it a bit as he tried his best to keep standing.

"MY LORD!"

"KIRITO-SAMA!"

"You're alive…" sighed Kayaba with relief even as Gnarl and Keiko all but shot to Kazuto's side, the latter having much better luck helping him stand thanks to both being a human and the unnatural strength she still possessed.

"Minions, get him off the armor!" shouted the Hellspawn while his Master was helped to the throne by his mistress.

"And bring all the Blues available, fast!" ordered the young girl with equal authority, finally letting the black-haired boy sit in his Seat of Evil Power. "Don't worry, Kirito-sama! You will be fine in no time!"

"I-it's okay, Silica, I'm…more stunned than hurt, that's all." mumbled the young Overlord while Keiko cleaned his face with a surprisingly clean towel a Brown had just handed to her. "Note to self…trying to Super Jump to catch a flying enemy isn't a good strategy…also, Gnarl, is flying among my superpowers?"

"I…am afraid it probably isn't, my lord." lamented the Minion Master while looking at his lord with worry, idly approving of how his young mistress handed him a glass of water and put a worried hand on his head. "No previous Overlord has possessed such an ability (Even if I can't remember any of the 'Heroes' of this land doing so either), though a couple rode into battle atop evil flying creatures…all of which are extinct in modern times, I'm afraid."

"Ugh…well, nothing to do about tha…wait, 'the Heroes of this land'? Does that mean you have seen her kind before?" sharply questioned Kazuto as he looked towards his (Arguably) most loyal servant, suddenly seeming all imposing once again.

"Yes, my lord. Hundreds of years ago when we came to this land and fought our final crusade under our previous Overlord." explained Gnarl as several Browns finished helping their master out of the nigh-ruined armor. "Those most trusted by the 3 Major Gods of this country sometimes would receive a 'Spirit' that would grant them immense strength, skill, and power beyond that of any mortal. These so-called 'Heroes' were some of the major threats our armies faced, always leading other humans and all kind of magical beasts of Good, inspiring Hope and giving them strength in the belief that everything would get better Justice would triumph…ugh, it makes me sick just to remember it…"

"…are you telling us Amaterasu, Susanoo, and Tsukuyomi actually granted part of their powers to mortals back then?" asked Kayaba while trying to not grab his head in frustration again. "Okay, sure, why not? You already managed to convince me they actually existed, so this isn't that much of a stretch from that…"

"Putting Heathcliff's worries aside, the fact that you never mentioned this probably means none of them were supposed to be around anymore, right?" demanded the young Overlord with narrowed eyes. "Where did this 'Leafa' come from, then?"

"I'm not sure, my lord. As you said, no Hero should still be around. The Gods are dead, which means all Spirits should have vanished at most days after they perished…even if one was sealed like we were, it shouldn't have enough power to sustain itself…" muttered the Hellspawn while scratching his beard, frowning in deep thought. "Then again, this girl had an immense amount of power and skill, more so than most of those Heroes of old had, and all of them were grown men and woman while this one couldn't have been older than you…"

"So, a total unknown beyond expectations came out of nowhere to frustrate my evil plans and actually managed to get away with it? Ugh, this IS really starting to become some generic fantasy shonen plot." groaned Kazuto while lying back on his throne, sending a grateful look towards Keiko when she offered him his usual robes. "Thanks, Silica."

"No problem, Kirito-sama." smiled the young girl as she stepped aside, letting a couple Blues walk forward and, after being granted permission, healing the minor injuries their master had sustained. "A-and don't worry! That hussy will have no chance against you next time! You were totally winning until she pulled that Deus Ex Machina with the wings!"

"Guess I shouldn't have tempted Fate by going easy on her and showing off my power, then, I was just asking for it." wryly smiled the young Overlord before glancing at the half-destroyed handle he still had on his hands. "I also left my armor a mess and lost my sword…"

"Luckily for you, we still have more than enough spare evil armors for you to don, my Overlord." revealed the Minion Master before giving the ruined blade's remains a grimace. "As for your sword, though…I'm afraid you will have to use another kind of weapon next time. Most of the Overlord's greatest weapons were lost during the final battle, and our blacksmith died during that time too, so unless we get a new one…"

"Fantastic. And all I have trained myself in so far was swords because all the other weapons felt awkward in my grip." mumbled the black-haired boy before sighing again. "And I seriously doubt we're going to conveniently meet some modern-day genius blacksmith willing to work for the Evil Overlord…no, wait a minute. With my luck lately, that could actually happen for real…"

"S-still, such thoughts aside, you should be happy right now, my lord!" quickly assured Gnarl with a serious look. "Sure, the operation may have failed, but you managed to deal and show your superiority to an unexpected and powerful enemy! For your first real battle against someone beyond your average pathetic modern human, you were without a doubt the one to walk away better! And you have seen how she's no threat to you, like Silica-sama said!"

"Thanks, Gnarl, I like to think that way too." replied Kazuto while looking deep in thought. _"Still, that Leafa girl…why did she feel so…familiar?"_

If anyone had asked the young Overlord if there was any other reason why he was so focused in recalling the visage of the mysterious heroine's beautiful face with her hair down and free of her ponytail, he would have fervently denied so. And as there was no one who could deny his authority down there…

"Well…I'm just glad this madness is over for now." sighed Kayaba while shaking his head. "This isn't something my area of expertise can help us with too much…or at all."

"Actually, Heathcliff-san, that's where you're wrong." revealed Yui as her projected image manifested near the throne, bowing slightly towards her Overlord as she did so. "Cardinal recorded the entire fight through the techno-magical feed we were receiving from Kirito-sama's helmet, and it's now reproducing all the information gathered in a virtual simulation. Analysis and accuracy of this new enemy should allow for it to be easily reproduced with a 96,78% of accuracy."

"That's…great news, actually." muttered the scientist with surprise, shocked about how amazingly useful that would actually be for them, moral implications be damned. "Anything else?"

"Yes, actually. After a striking number of 89 failures…experiment Absolute FullDive was a success." revealed the virtual little girl before moving to the side, showing yet another techno-magical projection, this one of a Brown looking weirdly at the beautiful forest he was in, before angrily starting to punch down the trees, only getting several 'Immortal Object' screens as a reward."

"Wait…are you telling us…?" started Kazuto with clear interest.

"Yes. Cardinal narrowed down all the exact conditions and results of the successful experiment and calibrated the Deep-Scan machine for perfect reproduction." proudly explained the former MHCP, which should have been completely against her programming given the amount of lives lost to achieve such a thing (Though given they were Minions' lives instead of human ones…). "As of right now, we're fully capable of 'virtualizing' living beings."

"Hmm…I'm sure we can find some very interesting uses for such technology." commented Gnarl with a critical eye while staring at the minion uselessly trying to destroy the virtual forest. "Be sure to train and make that idiotic Brown as accustomed to living in your world as you can, Yui."

"As you command, Gnarl-sama." nodded Yui before taking on a thoughtful expression. "Oh, also, you got 3 emails on the Recruitment Page you created, but it was started to get unwanted attention so I took it down and erased all traces of it. Sorry."

"Oh, don't be, young one! This is actually great news! I wasn't honestly expecting more than one person to even answer…"

"Wait, wait, 'Recruitment Page'?" demanded the young Overlord while feeling another headache coming. "Gnarl…what did you do?"

"That's what Gnarl-sensei has been asking me for help with at using the Internet lately, Kirito-sama!" happily revealed Keiko while beaming at her master. "He created a page to recruit people that wish to serve your Evil cause!"

"…what." blandly stated the black-haired boy, unable to believe what he had just heard.

"Indeed, my lord! It's a brilliant plan, if I'm allowed to say so myself!" basted the Hellspawn while turning around, even as another projection appeared. "Behold!"

The 'thing to behold' was nothing but what seemed like the classical annoying announcement you would see in any web page…only this one had a background of the Netherworld Tower hanging over its homely lava pit and of Gnarl at the front of the image, grinning evilly while giving a thumbs up towards the screen. In bold and color-changing characters, the next message could be read just beside the Minion Master's form:

 _'Bored with your current life? Tired of being a good guy? Then come join the Evil Forces at the service of Overlord Kirito and help us conquer the country! You will get the Power to stand against everything in the World and never fear anything again!'_

"…oh my fucking God." summarized Kayaba what his master was thinking, double-facepalming in frustration.

"After that, we created a simple page at which one could send a message with by putting one of those 'email addresses' as contact…and then we protected it Internet's personal form of ultimate evil!" declared Gnarl with a sinister chuckle

"…I'm almost dreading to ask, but…what is that, Gnarl?"

Surprisingly, it was Keiko who answered Kazuto's tired-sounding question.

"Ads, Kirito-sama!"

"…ads?" mumbled the young Overlord with wide eyes while the present creator of SAO sank to his knees.

"Why yes, my Overlord! Ads! All of them annoying, all of them appearing when one less wants them to, most of them being nothing but lies and others even containing damaging viruses for the user's computers or redirecting to sites that have nothing to do with what they had written!" proclaimed the Hellspawn with a tone that almost sounded like admiration. "Truly, the most widespread modern form of Evil on the Internet!"

"Believe it or not, from an objective point of view, Gnarl-sama's statements are actually right." added Yui while showing off several graphics supporting the Minion Master's words.

"Yes! That's why we had cardinal put like a hundred Ads over the page! That way, only those who truly wanted to work with us in your evil cause would get to join, Kirito-sama!" looking proud of her plan in Gnarl's plan, the young mistress finished the explanation with a wide smile.

"…Gnarl, Silica, while I, ehm…appreciate your ' _enthusiasm'_ in trying to find people who sympathize without cause, I don't really think this is going to work…" carefully replied the black-haired boy while trying to sound as neutral as possible.

Mainly to not scream that only crazy desperate, slightly insane or extremely bored people would actually get through such 'ordeal' to fill something they probably thought was nothing but a scam in the first place.

"Well, we did get at least 3 answers, my lord, so I think that counts for something, right?" reminded Gnarl before turning towards the present virtual resident beside them. "Yui, if you would please show those onscreen so that we may see them?"

"Already done, Gnarl-sama." answered Yui before 3 separate bodies of text appeared onscreen.

With a strange mix of dread and anxiety, Kazuto, together with the others in the room that cared, proceeded to read them.

0000

 _-Man, this sounds like fun! Honestly, I'm so bored with my work lately that I wouldn't mind some crazy excitement in my life for s change…wait, this isn't a scam, right?-_

 **Anonymous 1**

0000

 _-…can you really give me power to overcome any fear?-_

 **Anonymous 2**

0000

 _-Heheheh, why not? I have sometimes fancied myself as some evil 'villain'. It truly sounds like it would be_ FUN _.-_

 **Anonymous 3**

0000

Raising an eyebrow, the young Overlord looked at the 3 short messages once again.

The first one sounded like that of someone who really didn't know what to do with their lives. The second from someone either really desperate or willing to do anything to overcome something. And the last one seemed to come from someone with quite the skewed moral code, not to mention the extra-creepiness that the last word being written in English seemed to evoke.

Meaning, for the boy that spent most of his recent life as the heir of Absolute Evil and lived underground with Minions and arguably insane people, they sounded quite alright.

"Hmmm…they sound like they could have potential, but it would be better if we got more info on them first…" muttered Keiko while looking over the messages again.

"…Cardinal? Could you please…?"

"Cardinal already localized and identified the senders through IP hacking and hijacking of a few cameras. Luckily, 2 of them were careless enough to do so from personal computers, while the last one only took a few minutes more to find, Overlord-sama." immediately answered Yui before showing three profiles with endless data, pictures and even links to quite sensitive and private information. "As something worth mentioning, two of them are SAO Survivors, while the other has a…troubled past, so to speak, which could explain the nature of her message and her willingness to at least try and see if the page was actually legitimate."

"…well, look at that." muttered Kazuto while looking over the three profiles. "We may be on to something here…and human help would actually be quite efficient, especially if things are going to keep escalating with that 'Hero' showing up. After all, Minions may be more useful and disposable, but they can't hide in plain sight…"

Also, more sane people around could help him try and keep his every-second-crazier situation under control, especially with recent events having made it even more complicated.

Idly, the young Overlord felt his hand twitch, cursing the fact that he couldn't act Gnarl about why his powers had seemingly acted with their own will and tried to kill Leafa during the end of their fight. Not without revealing he hadn't actually been trying to kill the mysterious heroine, at least, something that probably would raise too many suspicions.

Setting the fact that his Evil Powers may hate those of the beautiful Last Hero, or that the profiles he was seeing didn't exactly paint those 3 as the best examples of average sane people, aside, the black-haired boy decided that it couldn't hurt to give this a try, and so ordered Cardinal to choose a Meeting Place and sent an email to their possible recruits.

After all, what was the worst that could happen?

On Its Throne above Everything…[FATE] didn't even bother looking.

It was just _so_ easy it bored It.

* * *

"I don't want excuses, you hear me?! I want my daughter found as fast as possible! I will have words with your superiors if it's not done in the next thirty minutes!"

With that last shout, Yuuki Kyouko ended the call she had been making, cursing the fact that she couldn't really use the cliché 'slam down the phone' to fully express her outrage with a modern mobile.

"…still nothing?" asked the woman's husband while looking out of one of the mansion's windows, grimacing at the sight of the reporters, curious people and other similar ones standing outside their home's walls, his son and most of their bodyguards trying to get them to leave already, threatening to call the police if they didn't.

Vultures, all of them.

"Nothing." growled his wife before letting herself fall on a chair, her hand sinking on her hands. "Shouzou…I'm scared. The pictures, the videos, everything…it was easy to claim it was nothing but a big fraud when it had nothing to do with us, but now…"

"I know, Kyouko. I know." grimly replied the man while sighing and looking down, his fists closed so painfully tight it was a surprise his nails hadn't dug into his flesh already. "Asuna…if this Overlord has done anything to our daughter, then I swear that, real or not, I won't rest until he is…!"

"Kyaaa!"

"Wha-what is that?!"

"Holy…! Are you filming this?!"

The sudden cacophony of shouts and awed exclamations snapped both Yuuki parents out of their dark thoughts, the married couple exchanging a glance before they both sprinted out of their mansion, only to be greeted by an impossible yet amazing sight.

Yuuki Kouichirou, the oldest son of the Yuuki family, blinked several times with his mouth open as he stared upwards, the bodyguards around him with hands on their weapons but unable to draw them as they also stared at the descending angel.

Carrying a safe and sound Yuuki Asuna in her arms, the Hero Leafa, mask and ponytail back on, descended on the grounds of Yuuki Manor with an otherworldly glory, ignoring the press and gaping onlookers behind her as she helped the beaming heiress to her feet, her sunlight wings proudly displayed around both of them as she looked towards the young man before her.

"(Your sister is safe, mister Yuuki.)"

"A…Asuna!" all but shouted Kouichirou while rushing towards his little sister who, after a hesitant look to her savior, did the same, meeting her brother in a hug.

"Nii-sama…I'm home…" softly cried Asuna with a happy smile, before her eyes opened in shock as she felt two more people joining the group-embrace. "Mo-mother? Father?"

"Asuna…thank heavens you're safe…!" muttered Kyouko while forgetting all the people watching or taking pictures, caring for nothing but seeing her daughter safe again.

"This…this is a miracle. We were…we were so scared…" all but sobbed Shouzou before finally letting go of his family, his gaze moving towards the otherworldly winged figure staring at them with a warm smile.

Suguha, for her part, resisted the urge of also crying happily at the sight of the reunited family.

Would she one day also be in a similar situation with her missing adopted brother? The strange heroine seriously hoped so.

 _"All in a Hero's day of work."_ boasted Sanrei from within their shared mind.

"(The Overlord tried to take her, but there was no way I could allow such a thing.)" finally spoke the blonde girl, getting everyone's attention fully back on her. "(It wasn't easy, but I'm just glad she's safe and back with her family.)"

"What…who are you, young girl?" asked the patriarch of the Yuuki family with wonder.

"(I'm called Leafa, the Last Hero of this land.)" declared Suguha while raising a hand to the side, all the Divine will of the Sun filling her words and figure with Hope and Justice that inspired all human's hearts watching her. "(And as long as I draw breath, no innocent shall fall victim of the Overlord!)"

"Leafa-sama saved me, mom, dad, Onii-sama!" excitedly revealed Asuna while looking from her family to the Last Hero. "I…I saw him, Overlord Kirito! He was there, he was even more terrifying than I imagined…but, when all seemed lost, she came to my rescue! No matter how outclassed she seemed to be and how horribly powerful he was, she still fought him and saved me!"

"(A-as I already told you, Asuna-san, it was my duty to do so.)" bashfully replied the strange heroine while resisting the urge of scratching the back of her head, not really knowing how to react to the unashamed and completely honest praise.

"You probably saved our daughter's life…" muttered Kyouko while standing tall and looking at the blonde girl's mask straight on. "How…how can we repay…?"

"(No reward is needed, Miss Yuuki. The joy a family reunited again is more than enough for me.)" there was no one in the crowd, or that later saw any of the countless recordings of the scene, that could doubt the sincerity on the Last Hero's lines, no matter how cheesy or cheap-comic-hero they sounded. "(Just…take care of each other, okay? Family is very important and…something that nothing in this world can replace.)"

With those words said, Suguha closed her eyes, lost in happier memories spent with Kazuto during their childhood. A soft smile blossomed on her face as her wings came alive, the heroine's feet leaving the ground slowly as more pictures were taken and awed sounds echoed once more.

"Wa-wait, Leafa-sama!" called out Asuna while leaving her family's side and standing just under where her savior was starting to fly away. "Wi…will I ever see you again?"

"(…who knows? But, always be sure of one thing, Asuna-san.)" as she spoke, Leafa recreated her sunlight blade, dramatically pointing it towards the setting sun while smiling down at the chestnut-haired girl. "(As long as the Sun rises every morning…nor you nor anyone else will have to fear the Overlord! This, I swear!)"

And with that declaration, the heroine vanished in a blur of sunlight, flying away faster than human eyes could follow, seeming in the direction of the sun she had so fondly spoken of.

All the while, Yuuki Asuna kept watching in her direction, a smile and a soft blush on her face as she did so.

"Thanks again…Leafa-sama…"

Less than 10 minutes later…Kirigaya Suguha entered her home through the backdoor, groaning as she collapsed on her living room's couch, her body feeling like one giant bruise even if no wounds were apparent on her person.

 _"Well…I got to say, that went much better than what we were expecting!"_ cheerfully commented Sanrei to her annoyed partner, who sent her a mental glare in answer.

"We got the shit beaten out of us, didn't get mortally wounded by miracle AND confirmed that, effectively, we stand no chance against the Overlord." deadpanned the young kendoka while resisting the urge of punching herself to see if she could hurt her annoying Spirit by doing so. "How the hell, pray tell, was any of that good?!"

 _"Well, given that we were highly expecting to die several times during said battle, that's already something, right? Also, you destroyed the Overlord's blade and saved the damsel in distress! I don't know about you, but I would count that as a massive victory compared to how we thought things were going to be!"_ explained the Sun Goddess' servant with a somewhat proud tone, a smile appearing on the unwilling heroine's face at remembering the visage of the reunited Yuuki family. _"Also, it let me have a grasp of this new Overlord's power and abilities, which let me learn something important!"_

"Besides how he overpowers us so much is absurdly unfair, you mean?" grumbled Suguha with a grimacing look on her face.

It had completely been a 'Barely-started Hero vs. Final Villain from Shonen'-situation back there…but in real life. Completely hopeless and one-sided against her.

 _"Yes, besides that! And is that, while he knows how to fight and use his powers…your own skill totally surpasses his!"_ revealed the Sun Spirit with apparent determination. _"If we manage to close the gap of power between you before he becomes more powerful, you can totally win this!"_

"Oh, just that? Man, I'm totally relieved now!" 'happily' answered the young kendoka, the sarcasm in her voice so thick it would have made anyone in the room choke. "And how, pray tell, do you expect me to suddenly become stronger than someone able to move faster than I do with superpowers, apparently stronger than an army of elephants and able to burn a forest down using Hellfire with a wave of his hand?!"

 _"By drawing all the power of the Three Gods that was embedded within me, of course. So far, you have only been using my own enhanced Sun powers by the 'change' I suffered, nothing more. To draw everything else, I fear that there is no more time to waste in your training…we shall recover the 3 Treasures right away!"_

"You know, you have mentioned those 'treasures' many times now, but always refused to clarify on them when I ask you." mumbled the unwilling heroine while sitting up. "What exactly are those anyway?"

 _"Oh…are you telling me you haven't realized yet? That's a surprise, given they're probably the most iconic items of your country's culture still around…"_ revealed Sanrei with clear surprise while Suguha blinked, a strange feeling of dread and realization starting to fill her. _"Perhaps you would know them better by their other name, though…Do 'The Imperial Regalia of Japan' ring any bells?"_

"Wa-wait a minute…are you telling me…all this time you have been talking…about the Three Sacred Treasures of Japan?" muttered the pale kendoka while shaking in place.

 _"Yup! The legendary sword, Kusanagi no Tsurugi! The peerless shield/mirror, Yata no Kagami! And the most beautiful jewel, Yasakani no Magatama! The treasures which represent the three primary virtues: Valor (The sword), Wisdom (The mirror), and Benevolence (The jewel), gifted to Japan's royalty by the Gods in ancient times!"_ proudly declared the servant of Amaterasu with apparent joy, even as his partner choked on air. _"To defeat the Overlord and save the world, we must stea…ehem, I mean, rightfully recover these relics! Let's do our best, partner!"_

That night on Kawagoe, many people could have sworn they heard a young girl crying in absolute frustration.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** And so, a Heroine's Quest to steal the greatest treasures of her country and use them to save the world of the Overlord begins. Joy, eh :P?

I gotta confess, something I had the most fun with while writing this chapter was imagining the mutated minions doing Jojo-poses. I laughed at my own craziness for several minutes XD

And well, the clash happened! Good and Evil now 'know' each other, without realizing they already kind of do…that totally isn't going to end badly OwO And while the Heroine has made herself known and gained an 'admirer', the Overlord is ready to recruit more poor…ehem, I mean, lucky people to join his cause! Did you guess who they are by those emails :3? If not, wait for it, next chapter should be fun as they're dragged into the madness and try to work together with our Evilness :P

That said, hope you all had fun reading this chapter! Next, I'm going back to work on OPG; hopefully I can advance the next chapter somewhat before I'm back to classes and my field practices start XP

Till next time, this is Saint, signing off!


	6. Chapter 5: Evil Minions

And so, let's all welcome this small little crazy story from its long-hiatus!

For anyone who was only following this and not my other SAO works, know that Lusus Naturae has officially finished, and so this one is being retaken from now on, taking the former's spot on my update-rotation: 'SAO:The Eroge', 'OverGamer', 'OPG:CoF', and start again.

Now then, let us once again resume this beautiful story about evil finding a way…and what better way to start it off than with an Over-dramatic flashback!

Now, without more delay, enjoy this chapter!

Also, all help filling this story's TvTropes' page is greatly appreciated!

 **Disclaimer:** Neither SAO nor Overlord belong to me. I'm just mixing the characters and plots for fun because I'm weird like that.

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Evil Minions (Who aren't actually Minions)**

 _The young man ran as fast as his legs could carry him, the grip on his katana so tight it was hurting his hands._

 _All across the battlefield, samurai and other soldiers fought, killed and died. Minions of all colors, though mostly Browns, faced against the humans, some even herding bigger, clearly different, monster to fight for them or as mounts, and both sides fiercely did their best to destroy the other._

 _However, it was quite obvious the dumb but malicious creatures had the upper hand. Seemingly never tiring, stronger than the average man despite their size, amazing teamwork despite their pointed stupidity, and completely unable to grasp the concept of self-preservation._

 _These creatures lived to die. These creatures killed for amusement…and for their only true purpose._

 _"For the Overlord!"_

 _"Die, humie!"_

 _"Kill all the enemies of the mast…AGH!"_

 _With a shout, the black-haired man beheaded the Brown that had been screaming that, the highly armored and wolf-riding creature too busy screaming to notice. Immediately, though, his clearly revenge-thirsty mount lunged over him, claws scrapping over his armor and throwing the young samurai down, jaws snapping to tear off his throat…_

 _"Hya!" with just one slice, the wolf's body was all but bisected, falling off the now blood-spattered man as a much older one with graying dark hair (And an ethereal glow coming off his armor) quickly pulled him to his feet. "Don't fall down now, Kirigaya! This battle is far from over!"_

 _"Captain…I-I don't think we're going to win this." grunted the younger samurai while standing up, holding his katana with a clearly shaky grip. "These abominations are too much and too many. I fe-fear even those blessed by the Gods like you may not be enough…"_

 _"If you have time to be scared, you have time to fight to protect our land, young Saito!" replied the man as both turned around, the older one cutting a barrage of fireballs as if his katana had an invisible extra-edge. "The Gods have not abandoned us yet!"_

 _As if to prove his point, the earth exploded upwards before them just at that moment, rising a meter-tall barricade for almost a kilometer in length, breaking the Minions' advance and letting archers and polearm-users to situate themselves in a much more better position._

 _Looking back, Kirigaya Saito saw many squads of well-guarded men wearing white robes and surrounded by shining paper talismans, the clear origin of the phenomenon._

 _"The Onmyoji have arrived…Amaterasu-sama be blessed!" cried the young man while he and his captain took cover. "W-we can do this, Miroku-taicho!"_

 _"Stop crying and get ready, Kirigaya-san!" grinned Miroku as they saw a new wave of Minions charging over the hills. "This Evil bastard isn't gonna stop you from going back to your wife, right?!"_

 _Giving a sharp nod, the black-haired samurai acknowledged his superior's words._

 _Nadeshiko was waiting for him, after all, and their child would be born soon. He couldn't afford to die here…he had to make sure she and their descendants had a land where they could live in peace!_

 _"Hai, my captain! I'm ready to fight until the end to protect this land and the Emperor!"_

 _For answer, the older samurai just barked out a deep laugh._

 _"Hah! Don't get all melodramatic just yet, youngling! My Spirit is telling me that the Gods have prepared us yet another surprise…and here it comes."_

 _The earth trembled. Stunned, the soldiers of the Land of the Rising Sun turned around, even as the Minion army stopped entirely to stare towards the heavens._

 _Breaking seemingly through space itself, a massive fox with golden fur crashed down before the creatures of Evil, its nine tails flaring with otherworldly power as it ROARED in defiance. Stunned at the appearance of a being the size of a small mountain, the Minions didn't quite react in time before its tails swept forward, unleashing devastating power that exploded, incinerated or simply crushed hundreds of them in an instant._

 _"…the Gods have blessed us!"_

 _"For Japan!"_

 _"Amaterasu-sama watches over us!"_

 _"A…a Kyuubi." whispered an awed Saito as he saw the legendary Nine-Tailed Fox obliterating the army of Minions as if they were nothing, hope blossoming in his head at the sight of the millenary creature. "This…yes! Our land won't be vanquished!"_

 _"Heh, you got that right, youngling! As long as the honor of the Sun, the Moon and the Storm burns bright within us, nothing will…!" suddenly, Miroku fell silent, his joyous face turning into a confused frown as he looked to the side. "What? What is it, Sanrei? Why are you freaking out? Wha…? A massive force of darkness like you have never felt befo…?"_

 _Kirigaya Saito watched it before anyone else. Perhaps it was Fate…or just a very silly coincidence that would go down in forgotten history, most likely._

 _Because nobody present would forget he was the first one to shout and point upwards._

 _"Wha-what is that?!"_

 _Darkness itself seemed to manifest on the heavens…no. It was flowing._

 _Flowing from the wings of a dragon, blacker than the night, wearing obsidian armor that gleamed against the sunlight, turning the day darker with its mere presence._

 _Except that it wasn't that of the imposing beast with blood-red eyes that did so, no. It was that of its rider._

 _Standing tall, the young samurai somehow saw him perfectly despite the distance between them. He could see the sharp edges of his unholy armor, blackened steel that glowed with forbidden power. He could see the runes engraved on it, all of them demonic in nature, overflowing with raw Evil._

 _But nothing was more terrible than the glowing voids of dark golden that were his eyes beyond the demon skull-shaped helmet he wore. Eyes filled with nothing but a Darkness and Evil that nothing alive upon the face of Earth could oppose._

 _Without seemingly any care for his forces being slaughtered down below, HE stood atop his dragon, reaching into Nowhere and pulling out a burning halberd, red and black and burning with the fires of Hell's deepest pits, before lazily spinning it on his grip._

 _And then, in less than an instant, he was falling down, nothing but malice oozing from him as he turned into a meteor of darkness and **crashed** atop the Kyuubi's head._

 _For a second, everyone waited to just see the mystical power of the Nine-Tailed Fox repel him, to turn into ash, to throw him away, to show why no mortal could compare to such a powerful Yokai._

 _What happened instead was that the massive beast FOLDED forward, its head crashing down and its skull all but exploding, blood-filled with power and wisdom of almost a thousand years spilling on all directions like a small river._

 _All tails went limp, followed by the body twisting on its side._

 _A terrible silence hung on the battlefield as, slowly, **he** stood up, giving the shocked humans opposing him a bored look._

 _Then, he raised his halberd and slammed it down, the earth itself burning and exploding upwards as Minions emerged, hundreds of them, and those closest to him bulged up, turning into mutant monstrosities, even as the sky darkened as an army of flying beasts ridden by more and stronger members of his army neared the battlefield._

 _Without anything resembling mercy in his voice…_ **The Overlord** _pointed his weapon forward, giving a single, amused command._

 ** _"Kill every last one of them."_**

 _Roaring in answer to the order given by the Evil One, the armies of corruption rushed forward, screams for a retreat being given while more walls of earth rose to cover them, but Saito's gaze never left that of the Overlord, feeling the endless evil flowing from him as a Minion the size of a bear slammed through the wall, heading right towards him…!_

"Kyaaaaa!"

…and with that scream, Kirigaya Suguha woke up in her bed, sweating profusely and her eyes wide open.

Heaving for breath, the young kendoka was barely aware of how her so-called 'partner' materialized as a glowing sphere just at her side.

 _"So…not the most pleasant dream, I take?"_

"Wha-what the hell was that?!" shouted the black-haired girl as she looked at Sanrei with a clearly disturbed look. "I-it all felt so real! I…I really thought I was there, fighting those things, talking with that man…except that I was…the one called Saito…"

 _"Yeah, seems like your fight with the Overlord the other day affected us a bit harder than I thought."_ explained the sun spirit while doing the mental equivalent to a shrug. _"Whatever you did to unlock more of my sealed power and create those wings also has let you relive the memories of your ancestor, the Kirigaya that fought alongside me against the forces of the previous Overlord!"_

"…are you telling me that, on top of everything else, I'm going to start having cliché flashbacks from the distant past to explain more about my current battle against the Forces of Evil?" growled Suguha with a twitching eyebrow.

 _"Yep, seems like it!"_ cheerfully confirmed Sanrei as if it was no big deal, even as the young kendoka let her head slam back on her pillow with a long-suffering groan. _"Ah, man, talk about the good times…it's been an eternity since I thought about old man Miroku or Saito-chan. That youngling certainly was hopeless back then…it's a miracle he survived, even more that he ended up my partner in the end, honestly."_

"…something tells me I will just regret asking how that happened, so I'm not gonna". moaned the black-haired girl even as her eyes set on the moonlight filtering through her window. "Still…THAT was the previous Overlord, huh?"

 _"…indeed. Do you see now, why such an Evil must never be allowed to rise again, Suguha-chan?"_

Grimacing, Suguha gave a slow but serious nod.

After all, she had thought she had seen the true terror of the Overlord's power when she faced him the other day…but the vision just now had proved her woefully mistaken.

Barely suppressing a shiver at the visage of the being whose mere presence corrupted the world around him with Raw Evil, the memory of him casually one-shooting one of Japan's most legendary and powerful beasts, the young kendoka knew that she could never afford to let her current enemy reach the true apex of his predecessor's powers.

Otherwise, not just her, but the entire world would be doomed.

"I won't let that happen. Not…not without having found Onii-chan first, at least…"

With that last whisper, the girl tuned out Sanrei's ramblings about the good old times and let herself fall asleep once more, dreaming of finding her lost adopted brother…and trying not to think about how many Death Flags her ancestor was able to raise in less than a minute.

* * *

 **September 2nd, 2023. Japan, a small countryside town. 10:30…**

There was nothing interesting or remarkable about the small town. Just one of many you could find in the countryside, away from the bustling cities in one of the world's most technologically advanced countries.

Likewise, one of the small warehouses near its edge had nothing important or special at all. In fact, if it wasn't for the graffiti someone had made of a weird goblin-like creature on its side (With terrible art style, it must be said); it wouldn't stand out at all.

And it was at that warehouse at what a bespectacled young girl had been staring for almost 40 minutes now, walking up and down the street before it and examining it as best as she could without actually walking closer to it.

Biting her lips for what must have been the thousandth time that morning, the indecisive female took a step forward… then turned around, as if to walk away…

"Hey there! You also here to join the Overlord's forces?"

"Kyaa!"

Squeaking in shock, the bespectacled girl spun around, hands raised in a vaguely defensive gesture as she stared up at the scruffy-looking man with a bandana standing before her, who quickly took a step back in surprise.

"Wo-woah, calm down! I didn't mean to startle you!" replied the man in his twenties while backing away. "Na-name is Tsuboi Ryoutarou and I also saw the announcement online!"

"…did you seriously just ask me if I want to join the forces of a supposed mystical terrorist?" questioned the girl with evident disbelief.

"I mean…you have been staring there for a while now, it even gave me time to go and get some bagels." commented Ryoutarou while pointing at the small bag he was carrying. "I figured I would wait around while chatting with my friends on the phone to see if anyone else showed up, and you kinda stood out a bit with your continuous walking back and forth."

"…dammit." growled the bespectacled teenager while cursing her stupidity, before adjusting her glasses as she glared up at the man. "Asada Shino…and let's say I AM here for that. What about it?"

"Eh, nothing really, I mean…I also came here for that, you know? Gotta say, it was a bit creepy to suddenly see a message on my mailbox telling me this address and to come if I wanted to _'Join the glorious forces of Evil'_ , but…curiosity got the better of me." shrugging as if was no big deal, the man then leaned against a nearby lamppost. "I was actually just going to hang around a bit to check if it was a prank or not, but if the exact same thing happened to someone else…well, it makes you wonder, right?"

"…are you going to go check it out?" questioned Shino while looking away.

"Are you?" retorted Ryoutarou with a raised eyebrow, earning a scoff in return as he bit on his small bagel and looked thoughtfully to the warehouse. "Wanna check it together? I can protect you if anything bad happens!"

"…fine. But if you try anything weird, I will scream." warned the bespectacled girl while walking past him and starting to cross the street.

"Wha…?! I would never! I will have you know, young lady, that I'm the perfect gentleman! In fact, you could call me a modern samurai at heart!" ranted the bandana-wearing man as they stopped near the warehouse's side.

"…then why are you even considering joining the forces of an Evil Overlord?" deadpanned Shino with a raised eyebrow.

"Ehm…I…I'm kinda bored out of my mind." confessed Ryoutarou while looking away in shame. "Ever since my friends and I spent a lot of money to get some of the first copies of Sword Art Online and the fiasco that followed, life has felt extremely dull and hard to look as positively as before…"

"Oh." blinking in surprise at how the seemingly cheerful man had suddenly turned all gloomy, the socially awkward girl didn't know exactly how to react. "Uhm, well, that's…."

The closest door to them, which clearly looked to be as locked as one would expect of such place, suddenly slid open. Towards the inside. Slowly and creepily.

Frozen in shock for a moment, the strange duo exchanged a worried glance before, as cautiously as he could, Ryoutarou walked forward first, his gaze fixed into the darkness within the eerily silent warehouse.

"You know, maybe we shouldn't…"

And that was as far as the man went before being dragged into the darkness with a very unmanly squeal. Startled, Shino rushed forward, trying and failing to grab his arm…and cursing herself for not running into the other direction when she was manhandled herself by several small hands a moment later.

Screaming as she tried her best to kick and punch at her 'attackers', the bespectacled girl squealed in fright as she was thrown forward to slam painfully…on a futon?

"Well…at least you didn't miss with her." sighed a tired voice, prompting Shino to look to the side and notice how a groaning Ryoutarou planted face-first on the dusty ground of the empty not-so-empty building. "…Gods, how old are you? Why would a kid even think this is a good idea?"

"I'm 14, I will have you know…and I can do whatever I want!" retorted the bespectacled girl as she stood up, glaring defiantly at the robbed man half-hiding in the shadows. She wasn't scared of him.

The dozen or so gremlin-like monsters surrounding her and the slowly standing bandana-wearing man, however, were a bit more intimidating. Honestly, the realization that this whole thing had, indeed, been real and not a prank was almost as intimidating, but seeing the so-called 'Minions' in the flesh was certainly scary…though their stupid faces and the fact most of them were armed with sticks or, in one case, a rubber chicken, of all things, helped minimize the fear.

She had come there for the power to overcome her True Fears, after all. So she couldn't allow herself to be terrified right now.

"Holy cows…this is actually real!" shouted Ryoutarou while pointing at the Browns surrounding the pair, who cheered at his stating of the obvious, for some reason. "A-are you the Overlord?"

"Hmm? Oh, no, I'm not, Tsuboi Ryoutarou-kun. Just a loyal servant of the great master." casually commented the hooded man, making the younger one tense at the blatant knowledge of his name. "Don't look so surprised, young man. Our master has far more power than you can imagine, and knowledge is power. We knew everything about and Asada Shino-kun there before you even accepted the invitation to come here."

"…are you going to kill us, then?" asked the bespectacled girl while sweating coldly.

"You should be smart enough to know that we wouldn't bother with all this trouble if that was our plan, young girl…but I'm getting ahead of myself." suddenly looking at a very specific point at one of the warehouse's windows, one that allowed one to see a rooftop at the other side of the street, the hooded man's eyes glinted in the darkness. "First, I would like our last 'candidate' to actually come down here and join us, instead of just standing there watching all menacingly."

Surprise overcame the two so-called candidates as they also stared in that direction, not seeing anything at all. However, almost an entire minute later, the door of the warehouse opened again, showing an amused and clearly foreign man carrying a pair of professional-looking binoculars walking inside, followed by a rancid smell that revealed itself as two Green Minions with rusty-looking daggers in their hands standing just behind him.

"Gotta say, I'm impressed." chuckled the man of ample black wavy hair as he gave everyone inside an amused look. "To think you would have these things hide in the trash to mask their smell…such a simple but effective method to ambush me. By the time I realized the smell had gotten stronger they were already on my back."

"…yes, that's totally what they were doing." 'confirmed' the man, while not thinking about the two idiots just hunting for a snack in the trash. "You shouldn't underestimate the abilities of my master just because of your unusual background, Vassago Casals-san."

"Hoh? And who am I talking with that can make such bold claims?" smoothly replied the now identified Vassago without missing a beat.

"You may call me Heathcliff. I'm the Overlord's main advisor." shot back Kayaba without missing a beat, amused at thinking how this was, in a twisted way, vaguely similar to what he had once planned to use that name for. "And right now, all 3 of you are being given a rather generous offer from my master."

"Re-really?" gulped Ryoutarou while looking at the Minions with even more nervousness than before.

"Indeed: Now that you know this is, indeed, an actual offer, you can choose to come with me. Be warned, however, that once you do, there will be no going back…you will be saying goodbye to your previous lives and indirectly swearing fealty to the Overlord's cause, in exchange for power beyond your wildest dreams." calmly explained 'Heathcliff' as if he was just talking about the weather. "…or you can just leave."

"…yeah, and be murdered in our sleep, right?" snorted Shino while crossing her arms, earning a dry laugh from Vassago and startled look from the bandana-wearing man.

"Believe it or not, Shino-kun, my master has much more important things in which to spend resources than getting rid of such mundane people like you three…yes, even you, Vassago-san." answered the hooded man without missing a beat, silencing whatever the now frowning foreigner had been about to say. "If you DO choose to leave, you will be left alone and you won't be directly approached by our forces ever again. However…"

"However?" questioned Ryoutarou with a sharp tone.

"Well…without trying to sound too much like the Devil offering Deal, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, lady and gentlemen." casually opening his arms, as if in a gesture to embrace the very air, 'Heathcliff' suddenly seemed larger than life, the shadows within the warehouse coming alive even as the ground exploded and a Netherworld Gate emerged within the building, startling all three of the 'candidates' as the sinister and very cliché-looking 'evil portal' presented itself. "Can you truly live with having turned it down?"

For a moment, nobody said anything at all.

Then, with a resolute look despite how much she was internally screaming she would regret this, Asada Shino walked forward, past the Minions and even Kayaba, and the impressed/shocked stares of her two fellow 'normal humans', entering the swirling energy of the portal.

Once the weird sensation of being both falling endlessly and being dragged forward ended, the bespectacled girl gasped as she fell to her knees against an oddly-decorated black stone floor.

Slowly, her gaze rose, eyes widening to the extreme at what she could now see.

It wasn't because of the impressive-looking Throne Room, with sinister and expensive-looking decorations.

It wasn't because of the sight of what she could swear were lava waterfalls somewhere in the distance, despite the obvious lack of extreme heat.

It wasn't even because of the countless Minions standing in formation across the room, most of their little eyes fixed on her.

No, all of it came from the sheer **presence** rolling off in waves from the figure sitting at the imposing dark throne, partially hidden in the shadows as eyes that seemed to gleam with golden power loomed over her.

It didn't matter that he wasn't wearing the armor he was so famous for, using regal black and silver robes instead, or that he looked surprisingly young. Shino had no doubts upon staring at him.

This was the Overlord in the flesh.

"Hmm, interesting. This one looks quite weak, but I feel some darkness with a lot of potential inside her." Forcing herself to tear her eyes away from the silent form of the Master of Evil, Shino finally noticed the smaller of the figures standing beside his throne, Gnarl walking forward and looking at her fallen form up and down. "Guess beggars can't be choosers when it comes to humans…"

"Indeed, Gnarl-sensei." chuckled the young teenager in the beautiful red dress (Younger than her, the bespectacled girl realized, even if she looked quite tall and…were the tips of her twin-tails moving?) as she leaned against the Overlord's throne. "But she's also cute-looking. I'm sure Kirito-sama will appreciate that."

Also, for some reason, the smiling young girl had a…cat (?) the size of a big dog sitting beside her, purring in an eerie way, and with patches of its fur being almost blue in color.

"…holy shit!" screamed Ryoutarou as he walked into the sinister room, his wide eyes shooting everywhere even as an impressed Vassago followed suit, the rest of the Minions and 'Heathcliff' closing the march as the portal behind them vanished. "This place is…man!"

"Quite the eloquent way to put it." snorted the foreigner before walking past where Shino was still trying to stand, ignoring everything else in the room and staring solely at the young figure sitting in the Black Throne. "So you're the great Overlord…you're a lot less intimidating without the armor."

"…I don't need to hide behind armor from 3 humans, on the Heart of my fortress. Especially not when they willingly came to me." finally spoke 'Kirito' as he leaned forward, his face peeking out of the darkness and making Shino shake at noticing his eyes now seemed a normal black instead of the golden jewels she had seen before. "So forgive me if your poor attempts at baiting me are wasted, Vassago-san."

"…oh yeah? Well…how about _this_ , for a lowly human?"

Then, without hesitation, the man's hand shot to the inside of his jacket, pulling out a black gun and shooting the closest minion in the same motion, without a shred of hesitation.

Asada Shino's entire world froze, bile rising within her throat even as she felt about to start convulsing in horror. Almost as in slow motion, she saw the Minions start to react, she saw Ryoutarou start screaming and 'Heathcliff' flinching back in shock.

However, all of them may as well have been snails compared to how fast Vassago Casals moved, like living black lighting or some speed demon from hell, darting forward, kicking a Minion aside with enough strength to make it fold in half and finally reaching the edge of the Throne, his weapon raised as a manic grin shone on his face as he came almost face to face with the Overlord.

Surprisingly, though, something caught the bespectacled girl's attention in the middle of that chaos and her own panic attack.

Neither the creature called Gnarl nor the twin-tailed girl in the blood-red dress had reacted at all. Not even when their so-called master now had a gun aimed straight to his face.

And through it all, the Overlord himself barely seemed to express any surprise, a raised eyebrow raised as he contemplated the man threatening his life as if it was the most common thing in the world.

"Wha-what the hell, man?!"

"Fuck! Kaz…Overlord, move!"

"…what? No reaction? No begging? No threats about what you will do to me for trying to pull this off?" questioned Vassago with an undecipherable tone in his voice, ignoring the cries that just came from Ryoutarou and Kayaba even as the Minions in the room froze, staring from him to their master with something akin to anticipation.

"There is no need for any of that. After all, I know there is a pretty big bounty on my head amongst the most unsavory and illegal members of the country's underworld…but I also know that you're smart enough to know it would be suicidal to try and pull that off." Casually replied the Overlord as he closes his eyes. "No, Vassago Casals, you're no ordinary man. That's why I know that you came here to kill me out of your own free will, not for any money at all. It's because you want to prove something to yourself. But let me just tell you one thing…"

As he said those words…all light in the room suddenly seemed to dim unnaturally. Paralyzed, Shino felt her breath coming out from her lungs as a frozen mist, even as the boy's…no, the _Evil One's_ eyes opened once again. Two endless wells of molten gold within nothing but the deepest darkness **burned**.

" **…if you pull that trigger right now, with the intent to kill me…Death will be the least of your concerns.** "

If the man with the gun heard him, nobody knew for sure.

After all, in that very moment, Vassago Casals could do nothing but STARE into the endless abyss that was the Overlord's gaze, feeling as if some depthless force was trying to draw him in, to devour everything that made him… _himself_.

At that moment, the dark man found himself not only staring at the boy with suddenly gleaming golden eyes before him. He was also staring at several dark figures, clad in armors of shadows and dark twisted metal, standing behind him as if their forms were superposing each other, all of them uncanny different yet undeniably similar, each one seemingly bigger than the last, making him feel truly insignificant.

For a long time now, Vassago had been someone that thought that the concepts of 'good' and 'evil' were nothing more than preconceived notions fools and those chained by the rules of society invented. Fancy words to try and reject that which they didn't like while only accepting that which benefited them.

He had been wrong, though. Because there, deep within the eyes of the Overlord, the mercenary finally saw it…

That was **True Evil** , without any doubt.

And in the face of such a thing…the man fell to his knees and let go of his weapon, staring up at the figure before which throne was now practically kneeling.

Kazuto stared, seemingly unperturbed, even as Vassago lowered his head and spoke with an almost reverent tone.

"Forgive my foolishness…Overlord. I will follow your word as if they were God's commands."

Ryoutarou gaped at the spectacle, his brain barely catching up with what had just happened in just a few seconds, unaware of how the hooded Kayaba near him had a near-identical look on his hidden face.

From where she hadn't yet fully rose, Shino stared with utter awe, even as the Overlord casually raised his hand and let the gun fly to it, before crushing it with a burst of dark energy as if it was nothing more than a pitiful toy.

"…that is acceptable." simply declared the boy while his eyes returned to normal, letting his gaze fall over the other two normal humans in the room. "And what about you?"

 _"S-so strong…"_ mentally mumbled the bespectacled girl, the sight of him crushing that gun making her body tingle, the horror she had been feeling replaced by a certain realization, as if confirming the very reason she had come there in the first place. _"Yes…he can give me…the power to overcome my fears…"_

Outwardly, though, all that she did was nod as she stood up, almost shyly refusing to meet his gaze.

"…eh, what the hell? I came here because I was bored with my job and the same luckless shit every day of my life! It's time to try out something new!" declared the man of the bandana while doing a 'badass' pose that, honestly, looked ridiculous for anyone but the Minions, who clapped in awe. "My friends call me Klein the Samurai, Overlord! Consider my blade yours now…or I would say that if I actually had one!"

Plus, there was the small fact that Ryoutarou didn't want to die, and he was pretty sure this guy could kill him with his eyes alone. He was obviously even more super powerful and evil than Internet led him to believe!

And while all those thoughts coursed through the newcomers' minds, within Kazuto's head things were…slightly different.

 _"Holy fucking shit, I really thought that guy was going to blow my head up! And why did that girl go from looking as if she was gonna have a heart attack to suddenly being super shy and relaxed?! Also, this guy! Why the hell are you calling yourself a samurai all proudly while pledging yourself to the forces of Evil?! Can anyone be THAT bored?! Does life as a salaryman in Japan actually sucks that much?!"_

Such were the thoughts running through the young Overlord's head, until the 'cold' façade he was maintaining with surprising effectiveness. Seriously, he had been a step from just screaming and blasting Vassago into smithereens the moment he made the first shot, but he had been distracted by seeing Shino suddenly enter what looked like a severe PTSD-episode. The only reason he wasn't calling for any Blues right now to tend to her was that she looked well enough that keeping his image of the 'Dark and Cold Overlord' was more important.

Also, why were Keiko and Gnarl so calm?! That guy had almost killed him right n…!

"Amazing…truly spectacular, my lord!" cheered the Minion Master as if nothing had happened, cackling evilly as he did so. "I never doubted you could subjugate these humans with only a fraction of your power!"

"I was scared for an instant, but then I realized my foolishness…Kirito-sama is truly invincible!" agreed the twin-tailed girl while clapping her hands together. "Minions, prepare a banquet to celebrate the joining of our new servants!"

"Food!"

"Let's celebrate!"

"Going to steal snacks from the surface!"

"Cookies!"

"…oh, yeah. These two just buy everything I spout nowadays, no matter how nonsensical." mentally lamented Kazuto while ignoring how the three new members of their 'evil group' looked at his Minions in confusion/curiosity as they rushed around to bring things and prepare the 'banquet'.

So, now he had a traumatized teenager, a man going through a mid-life crisis at his 20s, and a psychopath mercenary as his new servants in his quest to 'take over the world'. Joy.

He really hoped the Minions forgot his orders and stole some wine from the surface. He may not like the stuff, but he really wanted anything to forget the mess that was his life at that moment and fuck Kayaba if he tried to bring up him being underage. He was the goddamn Overlord for something.

His only comfort was knowing that, after watching her looking happy and thriving on TV recently, Suguha was happy and safe, living a normal life unlike him…

* * *

 **September 3rd, 2023. Mie Prefecture, Japan. City of Ise, 12:30…**

"…I can't believe I'm really doing this."

 _"Oh, quit whining partner; we need to do this in order to save the world!"_

"Yeah, sure, because that's TOTALLY going to roll over well with everyone when I go and _steal one of the country's most sacred relics!_ "

Taking a deep breath after her shout, the fully transformed 'Leafa' stared down at the impressive group of constructions she had never really considered going to visit in person in her life.

Ise Grand Shrine, one of Japan's most famous 'sacred' places. Where it was said that the Goddess Amaterasu dwelled, in ancient legends.

Of course, Suguha now knew that this was just an empty belief…not because the Goddess hadn't existed, but because she was dead. Ironically, though, she also knew now that the Imperial Regalia of Japan, the 3 Sacred Treasures whose existence was shrouded in myth and mystery, were actually the real deal.

And, if Sanrei's words were to be believed, this place truly housed the legendary Yata no Kagami. The Sacred Mirror of Yata, one of the relics used to lure Amaterasu out of the cave where she had hidden herself and taken the light of day away with her.

Also, apparently where most of the Goddess' power had gone upon her death. And now, her only hope of beating the Overlord was to retrieve it and the other two Regalia, absorb the powers of the deceased Shinto Gods within her own 'Hero' powers and vanquish all evils with them.

Never mind how Sanrei conveniently kept dodging the subject of what would happen to her by putting the energies of three major deities within her squishy (Hero-upgrades be damned) human body. Usually, she wouldn't even have considered this whole madness at all.

However, after her fight with the Lord of Evil and barely saving Yuuki Asuna from his evil clutches, after her dream the other day showing the true heights of his power…the young kendoka knew she had no other choice.

If she wanted to survive…no, to even have a chance at this, she needed the Divine Powers conveniently placed within legendary objects she had to retrieve to get a power-up. Because Gods in Heavens forbid if the destiny of the world stopped hanging on what seemed like the plot of a cheap fantasy manga.

Forcing herself to not sigh and concentrate on the task at hand, the 'Heroine Leafa' descended from the sky, her ethereal wings of light shimmering slightly as she did so.

There had been a thousand ways she had thought to do this in her mind, but…in the end, there was only one realistic way to do it.

After all, she couldn't simply 'sneak' into the temple in her human form, not with how heavy the security was. And there was sadly no convenient invisibility spell or similar among her arsenal because _'Why would a true Hero need to sneak around like some lowly assassin?!'_ , in Sanrei's words.

Which was why everyone around the immediate area of the Kōtai Jingū, the main shrine, was greeted by the sudden sight of raw sunlight shining in a divine-looking way above them, guards freezing, tourists gasping while priests and priestesses could only stare in shock, quite a few even starting to mutter prayer as the fully armored and light-clad form of the Heroine gently floated down.

"Please, could you call the Supreme Priestess? I have come to retrieve the Mirror, according to Amaterasu-sama's Will." declared the blonde girl while radiating as much of her 'heroic aura' as she could, dearly hoping that would craziness would work.

Despite all of that, when she found herself 10 minutes later on the innermost part of the shrine, a place she was sure nobody who wasn't part of the Imperial Family or the temple's highest caretakers had ever seen, she still couldn't believe it had.

And she had never been more grateful for the mask hiding her face when an old woman with a tired smile and wonder in her eyes stepped into the room, followed by several armed guards giving her nervous looks.

Kuroda Sayako may not have been someone many people outside Japan knew, or even most of the younger generation who had no interest in such things, but Suguha knew perfectly well who the younger sister of the current Emperor of her country was. Even in the modern age where democracy and technology ruled most of the civilized world, it was still humbling for a teenager like her to meet someone that could be called 'royalty'.

She wasn't a bumbling teenager right at that moment, though. She was supposed to be a Heroine following the Will of the Gods…and while it technically was true, she sure as hell didn't feel like it.

 _"C'mon Suguha, have confidence!"_

 _"Shut up, Sanrei!"_ mentally shouted the young kendoka before walking forward and folding her wings out of existence, doing her best not to react at the guards reaching for their weapons in surprise as she did so. "Sayako-dono, daughter of Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko. Younger sister of Emperor Naruhito…and guardian of the Mirror. I'm called Leafa, the Last True Hero. In these times were Darkness and Evil threaten the world again…I have come to ask you for the power of Amaterasu's relic."

"…my goodness. I have lived over half a century, yet I can't believe I'm seeing someone so young speak in such a way." answered the woman with an almost grandmotherly tone, the Supreme Priestess (A title that in the modern-day would sound silly for most people, yet it was still highly revered in the country) stopping before the Heroine with tired eyes. "There is no hesitation in your words, there is an unwavering determination in your soul…how is such a young girl carrying such a heavy burden?"

"I…do it because it's my duty, Sayako-dono." replied Suguha while doing her best to not bit her lips, knowing that trying to explain a stupid spirit had forced her current role on her because of being the last descendant of someone who fought the Overlord wouldn't help at all. "I clashed with the Overlord not long ago…I managed to repel him and save the one he meant to take, but it almost cost me my life. My powers aren't enough to best him and, unlike mine, his own grown by the day in a way we cannot fathom."

"…I saw the news, heard the people…even my brother was in quite the uproar after your 'reveal' the other day, and the apparent confirmation we have an honest-to-Gods 'Master of Evil' with an army of monsters in our country…" whispering, Sayako turned around, walking towards the later that depicted Amaterasu on the wall, feeling everyone's gaze on her. "…people outside my family don't even know for sure if the Regalia actually exist. A lot of skeptical actually think they're just myths that never existed, especially the more modern and technological the world gets…so how do you…?"

"Like I said, I'm fulfilling the Will of the Gods. Amaterasu-sama couldn't stop the Overlord from coming back…so I need to beat him now in her name." cursing how convincing everything she said was sounding even to HERSELF, the Heroine watched for a moment how the woman seemed to hesitate. "Please, my lady…I wouldn't ask for this if I had any other choice. For the sake of Japan, for the sake of the world…I need the power hidden within the Yata-no-Kagami."

For a moment, a soft silence filled the room, only interrupted by the guards' nervous whispers and the priests mumbling prayers.

Then, without warning, the Supreme Priestess reached into the wall, her hand moving over it in a very specific pattern that seemed to make something 'click' deep within it.

Suddenly, the floor between her and 'Leafa' split open, what sounded like ancient but well-maintained gears moving upwards and to the side to reveal an imposing-looking container of metal and wood.

The center made of reinforced steel and with a digital lock was something that had probably been added more recently, though, and Suguha would have been a bit more put-off by it if it wasn't for the sudden pulsating light that suddenly seemed to pierce from within the completely-sealed container, making many gasp in shock, more than one priest and priestess falling to their knees in prayer.

Mystified, Sayako looked from the phenomenon to the Heroine, before walking forward and inputting a code that was so long and complicated the young kendoka couldn't believe anyone could memorize, much less someone of her advanced age.

Even more light poured forth as the box fully opened, and the younger sister of Emperor Naruhito could only whisper a prayer as she retrieved the cloth-covered article within, turning to offer its open form to the awed girl.

It looked more like a fossilized circle than anything else, something that once may have been made of glass and metal but now looked like little more than a forgotten ruin. Several pieces broken at the edges seemed to suggest it once had some sort of outer ring forming a specific shape too, but now little more than fragments of it remained.

And yet, everyone couldn't help but be humbled and awed at the impossible light that was suddenly oozing from within the relic, the almost golden glow looking as if something ancient was awakening from its slumber.

 _"…reach out to it."_

Even without Sanrei's words, Suguha realized she was already doing so, her hands moving as if someone else was guiding them as she touched the Divine Relic.

Immediately, the mirror _exploded_ upwards, the eyes of every normal human staring in awe as the exterior seemed to **burn** with raw sunlight.

The center was the first thing that changed, blackened and cracked material becoming impossibly pristine, a surface that for a moment rippled like water suddenly reflecting everything within the World. Metal that had long since turned into ruin ignited with gold and silver color, beautiful designs and carvings suddenly putting themselves together once more. The outer 'ring' formed itself once again, even as some red jewels seemingly blossomed from the top and the bottom, until now 8 'tips' were clearly defined around the otherworldly mirror.

And then, as if everything already wasn't proof enough, an aura shaped like the outer ring emerged from the mirror in a majestic semicircle as it spun in place, looking remarkably similar to the Heroine's own wings.

Even the guards had fallen to their knees in prayer now, all of them staring with wonder as the Divine Relic floated down, until it was slowly spinning just above Sayako's open palms.

"Yata-no-Kagami…" whispered the Supreme Priestess as tears ran down her eyes, looking into the seemingly infinite reflection within the mirror and seeing things she had thought long-forgotten, a smile blossoming in her face. "To think that I would live to see it restored to its original form…I'm almost afraid I will wake up and this will be nothing more than a dream…"

"Oh, if only that could be so, Sayako-dono…but I assure you that this is very real." solemnly declared 'Leafa' as she reached out, almost hesitantly for a moment, before Sayako simply let go of the mirror, causing it to float gently towards the Heroine's hand. "But I promise you…this won't be wasted."

As she said those words, her hand finally made contact with the divine relic, and she was barely able to contain a gasp as blinding sunlight exploded into her.

Suddenly, Kirigaya Suguha felt her insides twist as she became something… _more_. There was no other way for her to describe it, except maybe that something that she knew humans should never wield was suddenly embedded into her very soul.

For everyone else, though, nothing but the view of 'Leafa' rising into the air was visible, the mirror spinning around her at impossible speeds as the glow from her armor intensified, before resting over her back facing outwards.

The Heroine's wings blossomed again, looking mightier than before, outlining the aura coming from Yata-no-Kagami as if the relic was specifically empowering them.

 _" …yes. This is…what remains of Amaterasu-sama's power. With this, we're a step closer…"_

 _"Sa-Sanrei…? You sound different…"_ mentally mumbled the young kendoka as she slowly adapted to the new power coursing through her.

"…just having been able to witness this makes me know nothing was wasted, young…no, Leafa-dono." mumbled the old woman with a gentle look, almost looking younger under the shining divine light.

"…thanks, Sayako-dono…and worry not. Once…" 'IF' was left within her mind. "…I have defeated the Overlord, I will return this treasure. You have my word."

"I would say I would pray for your victory, Hero, but you clearly already have the Gods' favors…" suddenly looking lost in thought for an instant, the Supreme Priestess suddenly looked extremely serious. "…are you going to gather the other two Regalia too?"

"…yes, I most likely will. But not today…I must mater the power of the Yata first." confirmed Suguha before putting a hand over her heart, trying her best to look as 'dignified' as she felt. "Until we meet again, Sayako-dono."

Then, without more words, the beautiful form of 'Leafa' seemed to _melt into light,_ beams of the divine energy vanishing through the roof faster than anyone could blink.

Even as the guards and priestesses either fell into deeper prayers or ran out shouting to tell others the news, Kuroda Sayako arrived at a simple conclusion.

She needed to call her brother immediately.

Meanwhile, high above Ise's skies, a certain heroine blinked in shock, looking at her hands as if unable to believe what had just happened.

 _" Hmm? Something wrong, partner?"_

"Sanrei…did we just become pure light?"

" _Ehm, yeah, I think so? Why?_ "

A grin suddenly split the girl's face as she looked towards the heavens.

"…do you even know how fast light is?"

Little more than an instant later, a silent Suguha was staring in utter awe at the form of the setting sun…on the distance, over the Earth's curvature.

Floating straight at the edge of the atmosphere, unless an endless void of black filled with stars.

 _" …woah, that's one pretty sight."_

"…I should be dead. I shouldn't…how am I even breathing? Why aren't my eyes melting from staring at the sun?" whispered the stunned heroine, though there was no removing the sheer awe and wonder in her voice.

 _" Please; you have a fragment of the Sun Goddess' power in you now, Suguha! Silly things like physics can't stand in our way now!"_

"This is…beyond amazing." still trying to wrap her head around the fact that she could now move at _light speed_ , the silly smile on the masked face suddenly turned into a confused form. "How…how the hell could the Gods die against the Overlord if they were this powerful?!"

As if in answer to her question…Yata-no-Kagami suddenly seemed to come alive, floating away from her back and in front of her, its water-like surface rippling and showing the shocked girl an unfamiliar scene…

 **0000000000**

 _The Light was beautiful. The Light was bright. It was unmatched, it was eternal, it was the Blessing of the Sun itself…_

 _But, somehow, the Light was clearly tired. Spent. Moving as fast as it could, lashing out in ways that nothing on the planet should be able to counter, dodge or defend against…_

 _And yet, the Darkness was always there. Stronger, faster, and much more vicious, Darkness met Light at every turn, meeting the elegant attacks with violent jaws, repelling every mighty charge with brutal slashes, crushing the majestic feints with deadly bursts._

 _Until, finally, the Light crashed down, taking the form of a tired but beautiful woman, her long hair the color of midnight, her eyes reflecting the stars of the universe as she coughed up golden blood. What once would have been an inhumanly beautiful kimono, sewn by pieces of the heavens themselves, was now a cut-up ruin, exposing her beautiful and shining skin, which was now marred by terrible wounds._

 _Looking up, Amaterasu-ōmikami glared with hate as the darkness solidified, showing the terrible form of Evil Itself, clad in armor that was now mostly broken and missing an entire arm, yet even the blood falling from said wound seemed meaningless as he stared down at her with blood-red eyes, a terrible cursed power surrounding the axe gripped in his remaining hand._

 ** _"Today your land falls, little Goddess."_** _spoke the Overlord with clear amusement. **"And the Age of Evil begins."**_

 _"…you will never take this world for yourself, vile monster." spat the Goddess of the Sun with clear conviction, despite her ruinous state. "The Land of Izanagi will never fall to you!"_

 _With that fierce declaration, Amaterasu lashed out once more, raw light hitting the Overlord's head even as it moved at impossible speeds._

 _A fraction of its helmet all but melted, the stench of charred flesh reaching her nostrils…and yet, the black eyes still glared back at her, a red glow suddenly illuminating them even as the edge of a cruel smile was visible under the darkness within the half-destroyed headgear._

 ** _"…heh, don't you know, pitiful deity? Evil Always Finds a Way."_**

 _And the next thing she knew, the head of the Sun Goddess was flying away, separated from her body by an axe-strike faster than even Light, powered by Evil itself._

 _Her body burst into black flames._

 _"AMATERASU!"_

 _"ONEE-SAMA!"_

 _With an amused laugh, the Overlord gave his back to the falling head of the oldest Goddess, facing the roaring Storm and anguished Moonlight lashing out against him together with the two previous screams._

 _"One down, two to go…"_

 _And the heavens cried as Amaterasu's head hit the ground, shattering into sunlight…_

 **000000000000**

 _" …holy shit! Woah! I did NOT need to see that!"_ screamed Sanrei with utter horror once the mirror's vision vanished and they were once again left floating over Earth. _" Dammit, Amaterasu-sama…so those were her last moments…But worry not, we will avenge you and save the world! Isn't that right, partne…?! Huh? Suguha? You okay?"_

For her part, Kirigaya Suguha was still shaking in place, looking pale and thanking whatever power prevented cold sweat from covering her body, her reeling human mind still trying and failing to understand the level of the fragment of a fight she had just witnessed.

THAT was the Overlord's true power?! What the fuck?! She could never defeat that! She wouldn't come close even if her power tripled the amount it was now!

Was Sanrei insane?! Was he really expecting her to fight against something of that magnitude?!

…no…that's right. Unlike his predecessor, the current Overlord wasn't still in his prime. Immature, still learning…just like her.

He was insanely strong, she had experienced that firsthand, but…she was the better fighter. If she could cross the power gap before he reached that level, even for an instant…

Besides…could she really allow herself to fail? If it meant letting the world fall in the hands of something like that monster she had seen through the mirror?

Once again, the innocently smiling form of her missing 'big brother' appeared in her mind. His worried shouts as he dragged her out of the pond where she almost drowned, as he nursed her back to health after she came back from the hospital…

That's right…she couldn't let Kazuto alone in a world where the Overlord reigned supreme. For his sake…for everyone's…she would win.

"…Sanrei…I'm going to intensify my training as of right now. Forget what I told you before of taking months, we're going to master this Mirror in weeks. And then…"

 _" And then…?"_

"…I'm going to need a better sword."

In the distance, clouds seemed to gather at the edge of her vision, over Japan's seas, as if a premonition of what was to come…

* * *

Kayaba Akihiko knew that he wasn't exactly the most well-liked person within the Netherworld Tower. Or, at least, amongst the few inhabitants of it that could actually think.

Sure, Kazuto tolerated him well enough and acknowledged the usefulness of his advice for, well, everything since he 'joined' his efforts to 'conquer the world', but he wouldn't exactly say they were friends. And both Gnarl and Keiko didn't really like him much…never mind Yui, one of _his own creations_.

As such, he was still with his full 'hooded' getup and maintaining the 'Heathcliff' identity around the newcomers, as he was pretty sure 2 of them at least wouldn't be really positive to discovering his true identity and he wanted to…tall with someone unbiased, about everything going in there.

Yes, it was ironic that he, of all people, wanted to do such things, but after dealing for months with the overpowered teenage heir of All Evil, the pre-teen that clearly was no longer pretending to be really into her 'role' as his mistress (Even if he didn't seem to realize it yet), and the old and grumpy Hellspawn ever-full of snarky remarks, he was a bit desperate and in need of some intelligent conversation.

Sadly, currently he had been left alone with only Tsuboi Ryoutarou, who did nothing but continue gawking around during their 'tour' of the tower and ask questions about everything they saw that was starting to really annoy him.

Asada Shino had been taken away by Gnarl after she asked for 'power to overcome her fears', while Vassago Casals had vanished at some point when they were going through the armory. He would honestly have been more worried about the latter if he didn't know Cardinal monitored essentially every inch of the bizarre underground evil fortress.

Also, the Minion Master had reminded him they were still missing a blacksmith, and that they really needed one to repair Kazuto's armor and forge him a new suitable weapon. As if he was somehow supposed to fix _that_ problem.

Then again, with how bizarre things had been going so far, he wouldn't be surprised if some evil descendant of the legendary Muramasa suddenly showed up at their doorsteps or something like that…

"…iff? Heathcliff-san! Are you with me, pal?!"

"…sigh, yes, Ryoutarou-kun, I am." grumbled the failed creator of SAO while giving the man of the bandana a tired look. "What is it?"

"I was just asking what this place is." commented Ryoutarou while pointing out beyond the stone arc leading into a massive and sinister-looking 'lab', filled with jars containing dark liquid in which countless parts of strange and deadly-looking creatures floated, eldritch and diabolical symbols covering the walls and workbenches/tables. "It looks abandoned, but amazingly cool…"

"That…is the Alchemy Lab, if I remember it right." commented Kayaba after a moment of hesitation, wondering how the hell he had gotten so absorbed in his thoughts that they ended so deep in the tower. "It's abandoned because apparently the previous Alchemist was killed during the time of the previous Overlord and there is nobody insane enough to try and take the job again, apparently…"

"Eh? Why? Alchemy sounds cool as fuck! Equivalent Exchange, the Door of Truth, and all that jazz!"

"It's not as simple as manga portrays it, Ryoutarou-kun…" muttered the hooded man while resisting the urge to slam his head on the wall. "The Overlord's Alchemist's main job was, apparently, to create powerful and terrible monsters to aid his evil troops to conquer the world, through some unholy means to twist life."

"…wait…could **I** be the new alchemist?" asked the man of the bandana with a sudden gleam in his eyes, making Kayaba's gaze snap towards him. "I mean, creating terribly evil pets and familiars to do all the work for me sounds exactly like what a badass bad guy would do! Plus…"

"…plus?"

"Maybe I can even create my own Harem of cute Monster Girls!" proclaimed Ryoutarou with all the fervor and passion that could humanly be put into such a stupid declaration.

Staring silently at him for several seconds…Kayaba Akihiko committed his second greatest crime against mankind.

Even if he didn't know it yet.

"…sure, Ryoutarou-kun, you totally can. Go and master Alchemy, create an army of deadly monsters for our great Overlord and then he will reward you by letting you make all the monster girls you want."

Either ignoring, or totally missing, the deadpanning tone in which the words had been delivered, the man of the bandana cheered and rushed into the room, reaching for the closest book in the forbidden art while 'Heathcliff' sighed, took off his hood and headed to his room. He needed some rest.

Meanwhile, in another part of the sinister tower…a nervous-looking Asada Shino was sitting on the ground of a round chamber, her arms chained onto it and wearing nothing but a white robe as she looked doubtfully at the massive and ancient-looking magic circle on the ground around her.

"…are you sure this will give me the power to overcome my fears?" doubtfully asked the bespectacled girl while looking at where Gnarl was directing several Blues and Reds to stand at specific points of the circle.

"Yes and no, young Shino. You see, after deeply analyzing the root of your traumatic fear towards firearms, human doctors would probably recommend you intensive treatment and years-long therapy that, for some reason, you never received beyond the most basic stages. Meanwhile, human media would suggest facing your fears, determination and something stupid like the power of friendship would fix the issue." droned the Hellspawn as he finally stood before one of the glowing crystals that allowed direct connection with Cardinal. "Luckily for you, our Evil Magic and the Overlord's power allow for a much direct and effective method?"

"And that is…?" asked the bespectacled girl with something akin to hope in her voice.

"We're going to reach into your soul, forcefully rip out your fear, invert it and then slam it back inside together with some raw Evil! Therefore both solving your problem and turning you into a much more effective servant of our lord at the same time!" proudly declared the Minion Master even as Shino gaped at him in disbelief. "There is just a very small chance of this killing you, given you're not a Minion (Who would die 100% of the time if we tried this), which is a plus!"

"Wa-wait, what?!"

"Now, stay very still, dear! This will only hurt horribly for a few seconds."

The girl couldn't even open her mouth again before the crystal shined, the Minions screamed as their souls were absorbed within the ritual and the magic circle ignited to life.

Then, she was the one who was screaming.

Watching the process with interest, Gnarl wondered if maybe he should have informed his master that he was trying this…before dismissing the thought entirely. He was way too busy right now.

At that moment, Kazuto was, effectively busy…sneezing for a moment before continuing to stare in disbelief at the big screen in his throne room, Yui's holographic form floating at his side while his worried-looking young mistress sat on his lap now that there was nobody else around.

On it, the view of Leafa the Heroine floating before the Kōtai Jingū in Ise Grand Shrine, along with an article explaining that she had demanded to see the Supreme Priestess to 'retrieve the mirror' and later been seen exiting the building as a beam of light, could be seen.

"…where the hell did this come from again, Yui?"

"From 'The Mighty Heroine Blog', created by Yuuki Asuna. Apparently, she has started a fandom entirely based around your new foe, Overlord-sama." monotonously explained the AI while showing several images of said blog, one of Leafa herself descending with Asuna in arms onto the Yuuki's household being the one at the top. "Still, this is troubling…"

"Yeah, I had already deduced that, but just to be clear…what did Cardinal make of this?" questioned the black-haired boy with a worried look, even as Keiko leaned closer onto him.

For all answer, the former psychologist program brought up countless images, some from fiction and others from history books and museums' paintings. All of them depicting 3 very specific items of legend, one of which was famously rumored to rest in Ise's shrine.

The young Overlord didn't know why, but he was sure this was going to mean even more headaches for him…

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Poor Kirito doesn't even know half of it.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, everyone. As always, madness abounds, but we also got more details on things for both sides! Which reminds me: Sayako Kuroda is, indeed, a real person, the younger sister of Japan's current emperor and, unless something tragic happens to her in the following 4 years, should still be Ise Grand Shrine's Supreme Priestess during this story's timeline. I did a lot of random research to try and use my 'original take' on this story's side about the legacy of the previous Overlord's enemies to be accurate XP

Speaking of the previous Overlord, was he overpowered from what we saw? Maybe just a bit, but not as much as some may think: In the games, the Third Overlord alone was able to defeat the Forgotten God, in his very own realm of the dead. And while weakened from his prime, he was still the one who had been the opposite-equal to the Mother Goddess, who was basically the creator of everything in that world.

So yes, the Overlord IS broken in a way the gameplay doesn't really show up, as you escalate from burning small critters to beating a high-tier God at his home with nothing but armor, weapons, spells and a bunch of brainless Minions. Kind of like how Bloodborne starts with you killing random beasts on the streets and by the end of it you're massacring Eldritch Abominations from beyond the stars that, lore-wise, should be stronger than even several high-tier Shonen MCs. Talk about unexpected escalation.

Also, Kazuto got new Minions! Yup, totally sure that Sinon, Klein, and PoH will fit right in here without anything going wrong. Plus, look, everyone's favorite samurai-wannabe has found his true calling!

But yes, next time, the crazy race for the Sword of the Storm begins! Good and Evil will clash again soon in…hilariously unexpected ways. Also, a certain guy in Japan isn't happy some Hero thinks she can protect them…they can do it themselves? Yeah.

Before that, though, next time is back to One Punch-Gamer, so seeya all there.

Until then, this is Saint, signing off!


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